Emotion Regulation in Insomnia Disorder

• Applicant: Chiara Baglioni, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
• Term: from 2016 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 313499877

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 thedisorder 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 sleeperscontrols (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, 110 patients with ID and no comorbidity (55 short and 55 normal sleepers) and 110 GSC (55 slightly sleep deprived for 1 week and 55 with habitual sleep duration) 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 ECGrecordings), 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 2with 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.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: USA
• Co-Investigators: Dr. Bernd Feige; Professor Dr. Dieter Riemann; Professorin Dr. Brunna Tuschen-Caffier
• Cooperation Partner: Professorin Allison Harvey, Ph.D.