| In the current study, we explored the impact of a brief emotion regulation intervention on college students seeking personal counseling. Sixty-eight participants were randomly assigned to one of the three following conditions: Group 1 watched the experimental Dialectical Behavior Therapy videotape that taught the emotion regulation skill of Opposite Action; Group 2 watched a control videotape that described facial expressions of emotions, and Group 3 did not watch a videotape. All participants completed a series of self-report measures at two points in time, one week apart, before they began counseling. Analysis of variance and t-tests were conducted to explore the impact of the intervention. Results did not support the hypotheses that participants who watched the experimental videotape would (1) report lower levels of psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and anger), and (2) report lower levels of alcohol use at follow-up compared to participants in the control conditions. Results did not support the hypothesis that participants in the experimental condition would demonstrate higher attendance rates for the first counseling session compared to participants in the control conditions. Results did, however, support the hypothesis that participants in the experimental condition would report more frequent use of the Opposite Action skill in written vignettes at follow-up compared to participants in the control conditions. In addition to applying the skill in the vignettes, these participants also reported more frequent use of the skill in their everyday lives with a significant decrease in the intensity of unwanted negative emotions. They gave the intervention high ratings in helpfulness and relevance to their lives, and they reported that they were likely to continue to utilize the skill in the future. The implications for these findings as well as directions for future research are discussed. |
