Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy https://doi.org/10.1007/s10879-019-09435-6 ORIGINAL PAPER Psychological Correlates of Change in Emotion Regulation Over 8 Months of Psychotherapy Sasha Rudenstine 1,2  · Adriana Espinosa 1  · Leo Cancelmo 2  · Priya Puliyampet 1 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract Emotion regulation corresponds to the individual’s ability to identify and modulate emotional experiences and improvements thereof over the course of psychotherapy are associated with the reduction in psychiatric symptoms across multiple diagnoses. However, the extent to which changes in the capacity for emotion regulation over the course of therapy relate to individual diferences in emotion-related self-perceptions, degree of psychiatric distress, and the reasons for seeking psychotherapy remain understudied. This study explored the relations between changes in the capacity for emotion regulation over 8 months of psychotherapy, as defned by all subscales of the Difculties for Emotion Regulation Scale, trait emotional intelligence and psychological distress. In addition, this study examined whether changes in the capacity for emotion regulation difered between patients reporting at least one regulation treatment goal and those reporting other goals. Data were collected as part of an ongoing program evaluation at an urban community-based mental health clinic. Self-report questionnaires were completed by 74 patients prior to beginning psychotherapy and after completing 8 months of psychotherapy. We found that higher trait emotional intelligence and lower psychological distress were related to improvements in emotion regulation. Moreover, the capacity for emotion regulation, particularly emotional awareness and limited access to emotion regulation strategies, worsened among individuals who reported at least one regulation treatment goal relative to those who reported other goals. As such, an initial phase of psychotherapy that focuses on integrating skills and self-awareness of emotional sensations prior to or in conjunction with embarking on an open-ended exploratory treatment is recommended. Keywords Treatment goals · Emotion regulation · Trait emotional intelligence · Psychotherapy · Psychiatric distress Introduction Emotion regulation corresponds to the individual’s ability to identify and modulate emotional experiences and improve- ments thereof over the course of psychotherapy are asso- ciated with the reduction in psychiatric symptoms across multiple diagnoses (Sloan et al. 2017). Stated diferently, many mental disorders are considered disorders of emotion regulation due to difculties within the individual to identify and modulate emotional experiences. In this vein, studies have found that improvements in emotion regulation over the course of a psychotherapy treatment or targeted interven- tion are associated with a reduction in psychiatric symptoms across a range of diagnoses (Sloan et al. 2017). While emotion regulation can be learned throughout the life course, including in adulthood, the development of emo- tion regulation is rooted in an individual’s earliest relation- ship. Through this relationship, the child’s internal expe- riences are contained and regulated by the caregiver who mirrors back to the child the child’s afective states. These moments set the foundation for the child to learn to contain and regulate their own experiences. In contrast, the absence of these early life experiences can result in difculties with emotion regulation and vulnerability for psychopathology over the life course (Bateman and Fonagy 2016). Relatedly, attachment within the therapeutic relationship may provide a unique opportunity for adults to nurture self-regulatory capacities that were underdeveloped in childhood. * Sasha Rudenstine mrudenstine@ccny.cuny.edu 1 Department of Psychology, The City College of New York, CUNY, 160 Convent Avenue, NAC 8/122B, New York, NY 10031, USA 2 The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA