The new training reduced emotional distress and changed brain communication patterns.
A five-week training program may help college students handle difficult emotions, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Students who took part in the program reported less distress after viewing upsetting pictures and thinking about difficult events from their own lives. Brain scans also showed changes in how parts of the brain communicated after the training. The study, published in Scientific Reports, tested two ways of dealing with upsetting thoughts and feelings. One method taught students to shift their attention away from the most upsetting parts of an image and toward neutral details in the background. The second method, called cognitive reappraisal, taught students to think about a difficult situation from a different and more positive point of view.
The research follows an earlier 2021 study involving veterans, the findings of which showed the veterans could reduce emotional distress after learning similar skills. Researchers then wanted to see whether the same type of training could help college students, who often face school pressure, changes in friendships and relationships, and other challenges connected with becoming independent adults. Students in the new study took part in training exercises twice each week for five weeks. They were also encouraged to practice the skills in everyday life. For the attention exercise, a student looking at a picture of a traffic accident might focus on trees, cars that were not damaged, or the sky instead of repeatedly looking at the crash itself.
Researchers also watched where participants looked while viewing emotional pictures. After the training, students spent less time looking directly at the most emotionally charged parts of the images, even when they were not specifically told where to look. The students also reported feeling less upset when faced with negative pictures or memories. The researchers collected information about mood, anxiety, worry and possible symptoms linked to post-traumatic stress before and after the program. Many students in the training group also received brain scans while resting. Those scans allowed researchers to examine how different parts of the brain communicated when the students were not performing a specific task.
The scans showed changes in communication between brain networks after the five weeks of training. Researchers reported greater involvement from areas in the prefrontal cortex, which sits toward the front of the brain and plays a role in managing attention and responses. There was also less sensitivity in some areas connected with negative emotions. The study also found that students relied more on the focused-attention method as the training continued, while use of cognitive reappraisal declined. Researchers said the results suggest that people may become better at choosing how to respond to difficult emotions instead of simply trying to avoid negative feelings.
The researchers described emotional resilience as a flexible skill rather than a need to stay positive at all times, with the findings suggesting that learning to shift one’s attention or rethink a stressful event may change both behavior and brain activity. A follow-up study is currently underway, examining students’ written accounts of distressing memories and how those accounts may relate to changes seen in the brain. Further research may help determine how long the effects last and whether similar programs could be useful in other populations.
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Five-week training program helps college students regulate their emotions
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