Regardless of their specific diagnosis, many people seeking treatment for psychological problems have some form of difficulty in managing emotional experiences. This state-of-the-art volume explores how emotion regulation mechanisms are implicated in the etiology, development, and maintenance of psychopathology. Leading experts present current findings on emotion regulation difficulties that cut across diagnostic boundaries and present psychotherapeutic approaches in which emotion regulation is a primary target of treatment. Building crucial bridges between research and practice, chapters describe cutting-edge assessment and intervention models with broad clinical utility, such as acceptance and commitment therapy, mindfulness-based therapy, and behavioral activation treatment.

Ann M. Kring, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and former Director of the Clinical Science Program and Psychology Clinic. Her current research focus is on emotion and psychopathology, with a specific interest in the emotional features of schizophrenia, assessing negative symptoms in schizophrenia, and the linkage between cognition and emotion in schizophrenia. Dr. Kring has received numerous awards, including a Young Investigator award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, the Joseph Zubin Memorial Fund Award, and a Distinguished Teaching Award from UC Berkeley. She is currently a member of the Executive Board for the Society for Research in Psychopathology, Associate Editor for the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, and a member of the editorial board for the journals Emotion, Applied and Preventive Psychology, and Psychological Science in the Public Interest.

Denise M. Sloan, PhD, is Associate Director in the Behavioral Science Division at the National Center for PTSD and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. Her current research focus is on emotion and psychopathology, with a specific interest in emotional processes in traumatic stress disorders and integration of methods to assess and treat emotional disturbances related to traumatic stress. Dr. Sloan has received funding for her work from the National Institute of Mental Health and the U.S. Department of Defense, among other organizations. She is a member of the editorial board for the journals Behavior Therapy, Psychosomatic Medicine, and Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy.

Introduction and Overview, Denise M. Sloan and Ann M. Kring

I. Models of Emotion Regulation: Insights from Basic Science

1. Emotion Regulation and Psychopathology: A Conceptual Framework, Kelly Werner and James J. Gross

2. Development of Emotion Regulation: More Than Meets the Eye, Ross A. Thompson and Miranda Goodman

3. How We Heal What We Don't Want to Feel: The Functional Neural Architecture of Emotion Regulation, Bryan T. Denny, Jennifer A. Silvers, and Kevin N. Ochsner

4. On the Need for Conceptual and Definitional Clarity in Emotion Regulation Research on Psychopathology, Lian Bloch, Erin K. Moran, and Ann M. Kring

II. Problems of Emotion Regulation that Span Different Disorders: Descriptions, Mechanisms, Comorbidities

5. Experiential Avoidance as a Functional Contextual Concept, Jennifer L. Boulanger, Steven C. Hayes, and Jacqueline Pistorello

6. Suppression, Kristalyn Salters-Pedneault, Maria Steenkamp, and Brett T. Litz

7. Emotion Context Sensitivity in Adaptation and Recovery, Karin G. Coifman and George A. Bonanno

8. Cognition and Emotion Regulation, Jutta Joormann, K. Lira Yoon, and Matthias Siemer

9. Goal Dysregulation in the Affective Disorders, Sheri L. Johnson, Charles S. Carver, and Daniel Fulford

10. Maximizing Positive Emotions: A Translational, Transdiagnostic Look at Positive Emotion Regulation, Daniel G. Dillon and Diego A. Pizzagalli

11. The Role of Sleep in Emotional Brain Regulation, Els van der Helm and Matthew P. Walker

III. Treatment of Problems in Emotion Regulation

12. Emotions, Emotion Regulation, and Psychological Treatment: A Unified Perspective, Christopher P. Fairholme, Christina L. Boisseau, Kristen K. Ellard, Jill T. Ehrenreich, and David H. Barlow

13. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in an Emotion Regulation Context, Sonsoles Valdivia-Salas, Sean C. Sheppard, and John P. Forsyth

14. Mindfulness and Emotion Regulation: Outcomes and Possible Mediating Mechanisms, Kathleen M. Corcoran, Norman Farb, Adam Anderson, and Zindel V. Segal

15. Emotion Regulation as an Integrative Framework for Understanding and Treating Psychopathology, Douglas S. Mennin and David M. Fresco

16. Attention and Emotion Regulation, Charles T. Taylor and Nader Amir

17. Working with Emotion and Emotion Regulation in Behavioral Activation Treatment for Depressed Mood, Matthew R. Syzdek, Michael E. Addis, and Christopher R. Martell

18. Toward an Affective Science of Insomnia Treatments, Allison G. Harvey, Eleanor McGlinchey, and June Gruber