Emotion Regulation Processes Related to Emotional Symptoms and Their Severity in a Clinical Primary Care Sample.

Emotion regulation (ER) processes have been studied as factors for the development and treatment of emotional disorders (EDs). The aim of this descriptive study was to determine how worry, rumination, negative metacognition, cognitive biases, and adaptive ER strategies contribute to the change in specific ED symptoms and their severity in a sample of adult primary care patients (N = 139). Different self-reported instruments were applied to assess symptoms and the use of the aforementioned ER processes. To analyse the data, Spearman correlations and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to examine relationships between variables. After multiple imputation of missing values, linear (parametric and robust) and logistic regressions were also conducted to assess the contribution of ER processes to emotional symptoms. Rumination was associated with the presence and severity of depression (***), anxiety (***) and somatization, whereas worry and attentional and interpretative biases were associated with anxiety and somatisation symptoms. Negative metabeliefs were correlated with depressive symptoms severity and associated with the presence of severe anxiety symptoms. Adaptive ER strategies were not predictors of any of the syndromes. These findings contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the relationships between ER processes and emotional symptoms and their severity. They support the view of ER as a relevant transdiagnostic factor in emotional symptoms, while suggesting that different ER processes may show varying degrees of specificity across symptom domains. These findings may inform more targeted, process-based psychological interventions.