Reminiscing about past events can bring joy and contentment. However, it can also lead to thoughts and emotions that are difficult to manage. This is particularly true for those who suffer from depression right now or have experienced depression in the past.
People who have had a history or ongoing depression experience more negative emotions than people who don’t. People with past depression may react to past events in ways that exaggerate their negative emotions and moods. This includes trying to avoid past events, being judgmental and evaluative about past events, and trying to suppress emotions. It can be difficult to deal with memories that are brought up unintentionally or spontaneously.
What was the Study’s Findings?
1. Online mindfulness practice has been shown to increase the use of positive emotion-regulation strategies.
The mindfulness program online helped participants to use more positive emotion-regulation strategies for thinking about past events. Participants reported greater nonreactivity. This means that they were able to think about past events and feel good about them without reacting to them.
This is an indicator of acceptance of past experiences. Online mindfulness training participants may be more open to experiencing past events and the emotions that accompany them. This may explain why they are less reactive to past memories.
Participants who participated in the online mindfulness program had a greater ability to use cognitive reappraisal, or to try to change their perception of the situation. They also showed a decreased reactivity to past events. This emotion-regulation strategy can often have positive effects on mood.
People with a history or depression may find it easier to use cognitive reappraisal to deal with past events that are brought up in their daily lives. This can help to lower negative feelings and moods.
2. Online mindfulness practice didn’t change the effectiveness of other emotion-regulation strategies.
The online mindfulness program increased the use and frequency of positive emotion-regulation strategies when responding to past events. However, the program did not show any effect on less-beneficial emotions-regulation strategies. This could be because participants did not engage in enough mindfulness training to decrease their use of less-beneficial emotions-regulation strategies.
Participants were able to direct their online mindfulness program. Participants were responsible for creating their own mindfulness practice, although many didn’t do much.
Studies in the past have shown that mindfulness practice can only produce certain effects if it is practiced for a limited amount of time. It is possible that the participants in this study did not engage in enough mindfulness practice to be able to observe an effect on the less beneficial emotion-regulation strategies being assessed.
3. A mindfulness program that lasted at least four weeks led to a decrease in depression symptoms.
The mindfulness program had additional benefits for those who participated in the program for at least four weeks. These included increased use of positive emotion-regulation strategies as well as a significant reduction in depression symptoms. People with a history or depression can be more able to deal with past events and feel less depressed if they have enough mindfulness practice.
These findings offer promise in finding ways to help those with depression history manage past events, decrease negative moods in everyday life, and possibly prevent future episodes. Although the present study was small, more studies are required to confirm the beneficial effects of mindfulness. We will be able to see with greater certainty how mindfulness practice can help those with depression manage past events and lower their mood.
