Cited by 607Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentNeural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

Emotion regulation and the anxiety disorders: An integrative review

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Cisler, Josh M., Olatunji, Bunmi O., Feldner, Matthew T., Forsyth, John P.·2010·Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment

Abstract

The construct of emotion regulation has been increasingly investigated in the last decade, and this work has important implications for advancing anxiety disorder theory. This paper reviews research demonstrating that: 1) emotion (i.e., fear and anxiety) and emotion regulation are distinct, non-redundant, constructs that can be differentiated at the conceptual, behavioral, and neural levels of analysis; 2) emotion regulation can augment or diminish fear, depending on the emotion regulation strategy employed; and 3) measures of emotion regulation explain incremental variance in anxiety disorder symptoms above and beyond the variance explained by measures of emotional reactivity. The authors propose a model by which emotion regulation may function in the etiology of anxiety disorders. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research.

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Crossref · 10.1007/s10862-009-9161-1

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134 of 134 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • States of high physiological excitement are particularly associated with stress.

    “states of high physiological excitement are particularly associated with stress [70, 71].”

    From Five studies evaluating the impact on mental health and mood of recalling, reading, and discussing fiction (2022) · cites this paper as [70]

    The 'Defining Emotion' section (page unavailable) describes acute sympathetic arousal as part of a fear response to threat. It also reports physiological responses during exposure to highly threatening stimuli. These passages support a link between physiological arousal and threat or fear, but do not establish that high physiological excitement is particularly associated with stress. (LLM, conf=0.78)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • PD is related to various emotional dysregulations.

    “empirical research has clearly indicated that PD is related to various emotional dysregulations (Aldao et al., 2010; Cisler et al., 2010)”
  • The pattern of associations is consistent with previous reports of difficulties in emotion regulation being distinctively related to anxiety symptoms, even when depressive symptoms are controlled.

    “This pattern of associations is consistent with previous reports of difficulties in emotion regulation (as assessed herein) being distinctively related to anxiety symptoms, even when depressive symptoms are controlled [35].”
  • Disrupted or maladaptive emotion regulation is implicated as a mechanism underlying several psychiatric disorders, including depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, and borderline personality disorder.

    “Disrupted, or maladaptive, ER has been implicated as a mechanism underlying various psychiatric disorders, including depressive6,7 and anxiety8 disorders, and borderline personality disorder.9”

    From Emotion Regulation (2014) · cites this paper as [8]

  • Individuals with an anxiety disorder are characterized by dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies.

    “and are characterized by dysfunctional ER strategies (Cisler et al., 2010; Ziv et al., 2013; Jazaieri et al., 2014; Diefenbach et al., 2016).”

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1 of the 135 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Mennin DS Turk CL Heimberg R Carmin C Reinecke MA Clark DA 2004 Focusing on the regulation of emotion a new direction for conceptualizing and treating generalized anxiety disorder Cognitive therapy over the lifespan evidence and practice 60 89 Cambridge University Press New York
  2. Quirk GJ Gross JJ 2007 Prefrontal-amygdala interactions in the regulation of fear Handbook of Emotion Regulation 27 46 New York, NY Guilford Press
  3. Watson JB Rayner R 1920 Conditioned emotional reactions Journal of Experimental Psychology 3 1 14
  4. Uttal WR 2001 The new phrenology: the limits of localizing cognitive processes in the brain Cambridge, MA MIT Press

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Authors
Cisler, J. M., Olatunji, B. O., Feldner, M. T., & Forsyth, J. P.
Affiliations
  • University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (US)
  • Vanderbilt University (US)
  • University at Albany, State University of New York (US)
Corresponding author
Cisler, Josh M.
Venue
Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment
Published
2009-09-16
Volume
32
Issue
1
Pages
68-82
ISSN
  • 0164-0305 (ISSN-L)
  • 0882-2689
  • 1573-3505
OpenAlex
W1996121462
Cited by
607
References
135
Citations by year
2026: 23 · 2025: 47 · 2024: 58 · 2023: 52 · 2022: 52 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 50 · 2019: 36 · 2018: 49 · 2017: 37 · 2016: 31 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 30 · 2013: 29 · 2012: 25
FWCI
21.97
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH018869)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Keywords
emotion regulation, anxiety disorders, fear, emotional reactivity, emotion regulation strategies, causes of anxiety

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