Article
Mixed Emotional Experience Is Associated with and Precedes Improvements in Psychological Well-Being
PLoS ONE
(2012)
Abstract
Background The relationships between positive and negative emotional experience and physical and psychological well-being have been well-documented. The present study examines the prospective positive relationship between concurrent positive and negative emotional experience and psychological well-being in the context of psychotherapy. Methods 47 adults undergoing psychotherapy completed measures of psychological well-being and wrote private narratives that were coded by trained raters for emotional content. Results The specific concurrent experience of happiness and sadness was associated with improvements in psychological well-being above and beyond the impact of the passage of time, personality traits, or the independent effects of happiness and sadness. Changes in mixed emotional experience preceded improvements in well-being. Conclusions Experiencing happiness alongside sadness in psychotherapy may be a harbinger of improvement in psychological well-being.
Disciplines
Publication Date
April 23, 2012
Citation Information
Jonathan M. Adler and Hal E Hershfield. "Mixed Emotional Experience Is Associated with and Precedes Improvements in Psychological Well-Being" PLoS ONE (2012) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/jonathan_m_adler/26/
© 2012 Public Library of Science. This article was published in PLOS One, vol. 7, iss. 4, article no. e35633 and may be found here.