Self-distancing as a Mechanism for Processing Negative Emotional Experiences

Human beings share the motivation to analyze and understand their negative emotions in hopes of achieving resolution and ridding themselves of the negative feelings. However, reflecting on such emotions may backfire and instead trigger dysfunctional responses such as cognitive escape or rumination with the intention to protect oneself. A wealth of scholars has examined a strategy known as “self-distancing” as a mechanism that may allow individuals to adaptively process negative events without causing further negative affect. Given the ability of humans to shift their point of view, individuals can distance themselves from their own experience and take on an observer’s perspective. According to this line of work, analyzing stimulating material from a self-distanced perspective allows individuals to reconstrue their experiences in ways that facilitate adaptive processing and promote insight. In contrast, a selfimmersed perspective has been linked to a concrete focus on emotionally arousing details, thus making individuals vulnerable to rumination. Researchers have examined the emotional, cognitive and physiological benefits associated with the self-distancing strategy when recalling both depressionand anger-related experiences. More recent studies have also considered its role in the context of different populations (children, clinical populations). Implications and future directions are discussed. Numerous self-help guides fill the aisles of bookstores in Western societies. They provide readers with a range of resources that are supposed to help them work through various stressors. Indeed, human beings share a general motivation to make sense of their negative feelings; most seek to achieve this resolution by examining the causes and assigning meaning to their experiences (Wilson & Gilbert, 2008). By understanding one’s emotions, it is reasonable to assume that individuals can achieve resolution and create a sense of relief associated with distressing events. This assumption is consistent with previous work, suggesting that processing negative events facilitates important insight and may weaken the frequency and intensity of these emotional disturbances (Kross, Duckworth, Ayduk, Tsukayama, & Mischel, 2011; Wenzlaff & Wegner, 2000; Wilson & Gilbert, 2008). Successful resolution of negative experiences may then not only change the distressing emotional reaction associated with these events, but insight may also benefit individuals when facing similar situations in the future. In clinical practice, patients seek professional help in order to better cope with experiences that provoke uncomfortable thoughts and feelings. However, the socalled “self-reflection paradox” highlights a possible underlying problem in this process (Kross et al., 2011; Kross & Ayduk, 2011). Although several studies outline the advantages of emotional processing, others point out that attempting to understand negative experiences can also trigger dysfunctional mechanisms associated with maladaptive consequences (Cribb, Moulds, & Carter, 2006; Wilson & Gilbert, 2008). Instead of understanding one’s emotions to achieve insight, this attempt may backfire in Yale Review of Undergraduate Research in Psychology 49 ways that may make individuals become particularly vulnerable to their negative experiences. Recently, a wealth of scholarship has advanced self-distancing as a mechanism that may allow individuals to process negative events in adaptive ways (Ayduk & Kross, 2008a, 2008b, 2010b; Kross & Ayduk, 2008; Kross, Ayduk, & Mischel, 2005; Kross et al., 2011; Kross, Gard, Deldin, Clifton, & Ayduk, 2012; White, Kross, & Duckworth, 2015). Given contradictory findings regarding the efficacy of reflecting on negative experiences, the present paper will review the literature surrounding rumination and distancing for (mal-) adaptive self-regulation. In particular, the review intends to illustrate the adaptive implications associated with self-distanced perspective-taking in the context of past distressing experiences. 1. Maladaptive processing The motivation to reflect on and process experiences is particularly strong when individuals experience distress (Wilson & Gilbert, 2008). However, it is also assumed that this mental strategy may activate corresponding emotions and thus trigger the need for cognitive escape, avoidance and distraction in order to protect oneself (Kross & Ayduk, 2008). Although distraction and avoidance may initially appear to be adaptive responses, the wellknown “white bear” study illustrates their limitations on the basis of a seemingly unimportant topic (Wegner, 2011; Wegner, Schneider, Carter, & White, 1987; Wenzlaff & Wegner, 2000). Wegner et al. (1987) demonstrated the so-called “rebound phenomenon” by prompting participants to suppress the thought of a white bear. Despite this prompt, individuals not only experienced elevated levels of thought occurrence during suppression, but they also became preoccupied with the target thought once reactivated (in this case, a white bear). Although emotional valence of events varied across multiple studies, this finding was shown to be particularly dominant in the context of (negative) emotional material compared to neutral information (Wenzlaff & Wegner, 2000). Previous work has shown that the attempt to avoid thinking about these negatively-laden events may initially provide benefits, such as emotional relief and reduced depressed moods (Kross & Ayduk, 2008; Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991; NolenHoeksema, Morrow, & Fredrickson, 1993; Nolen-Hoeksema, Wisco, & Lyobomirsky, 2008). However, this strategy is not only assumed to eventually backfire, but engaging in avoidance predicted unique variance in depression scores among participants (Mischel, Shoda, & Rodriguez, 1989). Further, it has also been linked to increased accessibility of unwanted thoughts and may thus pose disastrous long-term implications by leading individuals to think repeatedly about their negative experiences (Moulds, Kandris, Starr, & Wong, 2007; Wegner et al., 1987; Wenzlaff & Wegner, 2000). Rumination is defined as “a mode of responding to distress that involves repetitively and passively focusing on symptoms” (Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 2008, p. 400) and thus serves to maintain or worsen depressive episodes. Such responses are often symptom–focused and contemplative as individuals circle around the experiences, causes, and consequences of their negative emotions with no end in sight (NolenHoeksema, 1991). Being fixated on the thoughts and feelings that occupy their inner world prevents individuals from generating alternative cognitive and behavioral pathways that could enable them to initiate change (Cribb et al., 2006; NolenHoeksema, 1991; Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 2008; Moulds et al., 2007). Not surprisingly, Davis and Nolen-Hoeksema (2000) suggested a close link between rumination and cognitive inflexibility that affects individuals on a variety of levels. Indeed, rumination does not only promote negative thinking and depressed mood, but it also Yale Review of Undergraduate Research in Psychology 50 interferes with problem-solving and proactive behavior (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991). Given its perseverant nature, several researchers conceptualize rumination as a mechanism that serves an affective and cognitive avoidant function (Cribb et al., 2006; Moulds et al., 2007). Ironically, ruminators often share the belief that they are constructively processing and making sense of their negative experiences (NolenHoeksema et al., 2008). Individuals may also feel as if this way of processing their experiences facilitates understanding, while instead they seem to get caught up in a vicious cycle. Multiple studies have demonstrated the consequences of this dysfunctional and self-focused response (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991; Morrison & O'Connor, 2008). Rumination has not only been associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms, but researchers also illustrated its predictive force in regards to the onset and maintenance of depressive episodes (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2000; Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 1993). Further, rumination has been shown to negatively affect cardiovascular activity by creating elevated levels of blood pressure and poor physiological recovery (Gerin, Davidson, Christenfeld, Goyal, & Schwartz, 2006). Even more severely, Morrison and O'Connor (2008) conducted a systematic review of 11 studies examining the relationship between rumination and suicidality among clinical and non-clinical samples of varying age groups. With one exception and despite varying methodologies across the studies, researchers consistently found a direct link between these key variables. Given that avoiding thoughts surrounding negative experiences has previously been demonstrated to undermine adaptive self-reflection, attempting to understand one’s emotions seems to pose maladaptive consequences as well: Individuals begin to ruminate while avoiding direct confrontation and proactive engagement. Taking these findings together, Cribb et al. (2006) demonstrated a direct link between avoidance, rumination and depression. Higher levels of depressed mood were linked to a greater ruminative style of thinking and a tendency to engage in various forms of avoidance. These maladaptive responses that frequently result from the attempt to process negative thoughts demonstrate the necessity to find alternative and adaptive processing styles. What can enable individuals to work through negative thoughts and emotions without engaging in avoidance or rumination? 2. Self-distancing as adaptive mechanism Scientific and clinical interest in the development of mechanisms that allow adaptive emotional regulation has grown in the last decades. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), coined by Aaron Beck assumes that psychological problems are the result of dysfunctional misconceptions (schemas) that influence one’s cognition, affect and behavior in maladaptive ways (Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979)