Authors
Daniel P Moriarity, Mora Grehl, Rachel Walsh, LG Roos, George M Slavich, Lauren B Alloy
Publication date
2022/12/30
Description
Atypically elevated inflammation is a transdiagnostic risk factor for a number of psychiatric (eg, depression, psychosis) and somatic conditions (eg, ulcerative colitis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis). Inflammation can be influenced by a variety of psychosocial processes, such as emotion regulation. Characterization of which emotion regulation characteristics impact inflammatory biology could help refine psychosocial interventions aimed at normalizing health-harming inflammatory activity for individuals with psychiatric and somatic illnesses. To realize this aim, we systematically reviewed the extant literature on associations between a variety of emotion regulation traits and inflammatory biology. A total of 804 articles were identified, 36 of which were included in the final review. Of these 36 articles, 28 (78%) found that (a) poor emotion regulation is associated with higher levels of inflammatory proteins and/or (b) strong emotion regulation skills are associated with lower levels of inflammatory proteins. The consistency of these results differed as a function of both the emotion regulation construct investigated and methodological characteristics. Results were most consistent for studies testing positive coping/social support seeking or broadly defined emotion regulation/dysregulation. Methodologically, studies testing inflammatory reactivity to an acute stressor, adopting a vulnerability-stress framework, or using longitudinal data most consistently supported study hypotheses. Implications for integrated, transdiagnostic psychoimmunological theories are discussed, as well as recommendations for clinical research.
Scholar articles