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Insomnia und Emotionsregulation

Projektbeschreibung:
Insomnia Disorder (ID) is one of the most frequent psychophysiological disorders worldwide; yet its pathophysiology is not fully understood. Specifically, while biological, behavioral, and cognitive aspects of the disorder have been well studied, the study of the emotional aspects has been severely neglected. This is surprising due to the recognized impact of ID on quality of life and its role in psychopathology. The aim of this project is to evaluate whether patients with ID regulate their emotions, especially in response to insomnia-related stimuli, more often by trying to suppress them (behavioral suppression, BS) than by re-appraising the meaning of the emotion situation (cognitive reappraisal, CR) compared to good sleepers controls (GSC). The use of BS is expected to be associated with increased physiological hyperarousal, intense negative emotions and increased suppression of facial expression of emotions compared to the use of CR. To evaluate this hypothesis, 40 patients with ID and no comorbidity and 40 GSC will be recruited and after screening will take part to 3 studies. In study 1, sleep and emotional processes will be observed for 1 week through an Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) design. Sleep will be recorded through actigraphy and a specific sleep diary App for Iphones. Emotion reactivity and emotion regulation (ER) will be also observed through a specific App for Iphones on 8 random moments during the day. The emotion-App will be synchronized with a biosensor to measure ECG activity. Study 2 will be conducted in the lab and will compare patients with ID and GSC on spontaneous self-report use of BS and CR and emotional reactivity in response to the view of 2 film-clips inducing respectively sadness and negative emotions related to the experience of insomnia. Emotional reactivity will be measured through physiological (Event Related Potentials and ECG recordings), experiential (self-report ratings), and behavioral (coding of facial expressions) measures. In study 3, participants will be divided in 2 groups, both including half of the patients with ID and half of the GSC. The groups will be trained to use respectively CR or BS when watching film-clips inducing sadness. After 2 training sessions, participants will take part to the experimental session which will follow the same procedure of study 2 with the only difference that participants will be asked to use either CR or BS depending on group assignation. Results are expected to clarify emotional aspects of ID and how these may have a role in explaining the close link between ID and mental disorders. In addition, specific attention to the clinical implications of the results will be given as programs directed to early treatment of insomnia and training on adaptive emotion regulation strategies may be a powerful preventive intervention for psychopathology with great impact on societal costs.

Ansprechpartner: Baglioni, C
Tel: 076127065890
Email: chiara.baglioni@uniklinik-freiburg.de
Projektlaufzeit:
Projektbeginn: 01.10.2017
Projektende: 30.09.2020
Projektleitung:
Baglioni, C
Stellvertretung: Riemann, D
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Zentrum für Psychische Erkrankungen (Department)
Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie
Hauptstrasse 5
79104 Freiburg

Telefon: +49 / 761 / 270-6501 / -6502
Fax: +49 / 761 / 270-6619
http://www.uniklinik-freiburg.de/psych/live/
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