A review and novel theoretical model of how negative emotions influence inflammation: The critical role of emotion regulation

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2021.100397Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Abstract

Psychological distress is an inevitable part of life. Research drawing on theories from clinical psychology, health psychology, and psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) has identified relationships between negative emotions such as anxiety and sadness with inflammation. When not regulated properly, negative emotions can create biological wear and tear on the body that can increase risk for morbidity and mortality. This review discusses previously available research on relationships between negative emotions and emotion regulation with inflammation among both physically healthy adults and those with chronic illnesses. I then present a novel comprehensive biobehavioral model of negative emotionality. This model emphasizes the influence of negative emotions and their contribution to heightened inflammation. Further, I also discuss how emotion regulation (including perseverative processes such as worry and rumination) mediates this association. The relationships between negative emotionality and emotion regulation may be bidirectional, and empirical investigation of this model should specifically seek to disentangle these relationships. The proposed model offers the opportunity to advance PNI research through understanding how emotional factors alter inflammation and contribute to accelerated biological aging and disease risk.

Keywords

Emotions
Emotion regulation
Perseveration
Inflammation
PNI

Cited by (0)

Megan Renna. Dr. Megan Renna is an Assistant Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi and a faculty member in the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. Program. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University after having trained there and within the Health Psychology & Clinical Science Ph.D. program at CUNY Hunter College. Dr. Renna completed her predoctoral clinical internship at Duke University Medical Center and a T32 postdoctoral fellowship funded through the National Cancer Institute at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center/Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research under the mentorship of Dr. Janice Kiecolt-Glaser. As a clinical scientist with specialized training in psychoneuroimmunology, Dr. Renna's research focuses on the intersection between psychological and physical health. She is especially interested in how emotion regulation and negative emotionality disrupts normative biological functioning to enhance risk for and maintenance of chronic health issues among adults with anxiety and depressive disorders and breast cancer survivors. Dr. Renna has over 35 peer-reviewed publications and has been the recipient of several grants and awards to foster her development as an early career investigator. She was a recent awardee of a Loan Repayment Program (LRP) grant from the National Cancer Institute and has previously been supported through the Dean's Grant for Student Research at Teachers College Columbia University, the Doctoral Student Research Grant at the CUNY Graduate Center, and a T32 postdoctoral fellowship from the National Cancer Institute.