In plain language
When people feel threatened by a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, does shutting down their difficult emotions protect them or hurt them? This study surveyed 308 Polish adults who were experiencing symptoms of adjustment disorder — a common stress-related condition marked by preoccupation with a stressor and failure to adapt — during the first wave of the pandemic in June 2020. Participants completed measures of adjustment disorder, depression, anxiety, self-compassion, experiential avoidance (the tendency to avoid distressing thoughts and feelings), and how threatened they felt by COVID-19.
As expected, feeling more threatened by the virus was linked to more depression and anxiety symptoms. But an unexpected pattern emerged: among people who were high in experiential avoidance or low in self-compassion, perceived threat was not related to adjustment disorder severity at all. In other words, cutting oneself off from difficult emotions appeared to disconnect worry about the pandemic from stress symptoms. However, this apparent protection came at a cost. When the researchers grouped participants by their emotional styles, those combining high avoidance with low self-compassion had significantly higher adjustment disorder, depression, and anxiety symptoms than those with the opposite pattern.
The findings suggest that although shutting down emotions in the face of danger may feel self-soothing in the short term, it is associated with greater overall distress. Being mindful and compassionate toward one’s own experiences appears to be the healthier path, supporting acceptance- and compassion-based approaches to treating stress-related problems.
Key findings
- In 308 adults with adjustment disorder symptoms during COVID-19, perceived pandemic threat was positively associated with depression and anxiety symptoms.
- Both self-compassion and experiential avoidance significantly moderated the link between perceived COVID-19 threat and adjustment disorder severity.
- Unexpectedly, the threat–symptom link disappeared in people high in experiential avoidance or low in self-compassion, suggesting emotional shutdown decoupled worry from symptoms.
- Cluster analysis identified four profiles; the high-avoidance/low-self-compassion group had significantly higher adjustment disorder, depression, and anxiety symptoms than the low-avoidance/high-self-compassion group (all p < .001).
- The results suggest that cutting oneself off from difficult emotions may seem self-soothing but is linked to increased psychopathology and emotional distress overall.
- The authors conclude that interventions building acceptance of emotional experiences and self-kindness may help alleviate adjustment disorder and emotional distress.
How to cite
APA
Holas, P., Juszczyk, A., Ciarrochi, J., & Hayes, S. (2023). Cutting oneself off from difficult emotions in the face of danger: The role of self-compassion and experiential avoidance in the link between the perceived threat of Covid-19 and the severity of adjustment disorder symptoms [Preprint]. Research Square. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3576580/v1
BibTeX
@article{holas2023cutting,
author = {Holas, Pawe{\l} and Juszczyk, Aleksandra and Ciarrochi, Joseph and Hayes, Steven},
title = {Cutting Oneself off from Difficult Emotions in the Face of Danger: The Role of Self-Compassion and Experiential Avoidance in the Link between the Perceived Threat of Covid-19 and the Severity of Adjustment Disorder Symptoms},
journal = {Research Square},
year = {2023},
note = {Preprint},
doi = {10.21203/rs.3.rs-3576580/v1}
}
Related work
- All publications by Joseph Ciarrochi (searchable, with free PDFs)
- Process-Based Therapy & Idionomic Analysis
Author: Joseph Ciarrochi (ORCID 0000-0003-0471-8100). Free copy hosted with permission for scholarly use. Please cite the published version via the DOI above.