Psychology Research and Behavior Management (Aug 2017)
Rock climbing and acute emotion regulation in patients with major depressive disorder in the context of a psychological inpatient treatment: a controlled pilot trial
Abstract
Maria Kleinstäuber,1,2 Merle Reuter,3 Norbert Doll,4 Andreas J Fallgatter4 1Division of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Psychology, Philipps University, Marburg, Germany; 2Department of Psychological Medicine, School of Medicine, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; 3Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany, 4Department of General Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany Background: Major depressive disorder is characterized by deficits in emotion regulation. This study examined associations between rock climbing and acute emotion regulating effects in patients with major depression. Patients and methods: In a nonrandomized, controlled study, 40 major depressive disorder inpatients were assigned to either a climbing session (n=20) or a relaxation session (n=20). Positive and negative affect, depressiveness, and coping emotions were assessed immediately before and after the session. Results: Mixed analyses of variance and covariance revealed significant time × group interaction effects for all assessed outcomes (p≤0.012): positive affect and coping emotions significantly increased and negative affect and depressiveness significantly decreased after the climbing session (1.04≤ Cohen’s d ≤1.30), in contrast to a relaxation session (0.16≤ Cohen’s d ≤0.36). Conclusion: The results show that rock climbing is associated with acute emotion regulatory effects. These findings have to be replicated with a randomized design, and future research should pay attention to possible mechanisms of rock climbing in regard to emotion regulation. Keywords: physical activity, controlled trial, relaxation, inpatient treatment
