The Effectiveness of Procedural Emotion Regulation Strategies Training on Psychological Distress

Deficits in emotion regulation have been identified as a risk factor for maintenance of psychological distress. The purpose of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies training on psychological distress. To conduct the study, 22 university students (13 males and 9 females) from Kharazmi University were selected voluntary. The participants took part in a 10-session workshop of emotion regulation strategies training. All individuals in the three stages of training (prior to the training, while receiving the training and subsequent to the training) were assessed using the scale of depression, anxiety and stress (DASS, Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995). Data were analyzed using repeated measurement and Bonferroni post-hoc test. The results indicated that, procedural emotion regulation training leads to the decrease of depression, anxiety and stress in the participants. With regard to the results of the present research, it can be concluded that procedural emotion regulation strategies training could be an effective procedure for reduction of psychological distress.