The Emotion Mapping Activity: Preliminary evaluation of a mindfulness‐informed exercise to improve emotion labeling in alexithymic persons
Emily Rachel Edwards, Sindhuja Shivaji, Peggilee Wupperman
Scandinavian Journal of Psychology March 8, 2018 DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12438 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Experimental study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 67 |
| Population | Alexithymic persons |
| Intervention | Emotion Mapping Activity (EMA) |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Citations | 26 |
| Key findings | The authors suggest that completing the Emotion Mapping Activity may improve alexithymic persons' ability to label emotions that would otherwise be misinterpreted, without interfering with labeling that is already intact. They propose the exercise could potentially be incorporated into psychotherapy protocols, though they state further research is necessary. |
Abstract
Alexithymia is a psychoemotional trait associated with many treatment-resistant psychological and social difficulties. Research suggests that these difficulties stem primarily from an inability to appropriately apply linguistic labels to emotional experiences and content. The present research introduces and preliminarily evaluates a novel mindfulness-informed exercise to improve emotion-labeling ability in alexithymic persons. Based in culturally universal patterns of somatic experience, the Emotion Mapping Activity (EMA) directs alexithymic persons to reflect on their internal, somatic experiences as a source of information for interpreting and labeling emotional experiences. In the present study, 67 alexithymic persons completed a series of emotion-labeling tasks either with or without assistance of the EMA. Results suggest that completion of the EMA may improve ability to label emotions that would be otherwise misinterpreted - without interfering with labeling that is already intact. Though further research is necessary, the present study suggests that the EMA may hold the potential to be incorporated into psychotherapy protocols as an exercise for improving emotion-labeling ability in alexithymic clients.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Cancer patients (clinical intervention study) | 2003 | Mixed methods: scale development, correlational, quasi-experimental, laboratory, experience-sampling, and clinical intervention study | |
| Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. | 2008 | Controlled laboratory experiment | |
| Mindfulness and mind-wandering: Finding convergence through opposing constructs. | 2012 | Two studies: correlational study and experimental study | |
| Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence | 2009 | Experimental study | |
| Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Incarcerated population | 2006 | Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual control condition |
Citations in the library
Cites 2
- Short-term autonomic and cardiovascular effects of mindfulness body scan meditation Annals of Behavioral Medicine November 15, 2006
- An outpatient program in behavioral medicine for chronic pain patients based on the practice of mindfulness meditation: theoretical considerations and preliminary results. General Hospital Psychiatry April 1, 1982