The effect of positive future mental time travel on affect and grief in bereaved individuals

Abstract

Prolonged grief disorder (PGD) is characterized by symptoms of grief that persist and cause severe distress and disability and is related to persistent negative thoughts about the future. A focus on positive emotion regulation could be beneficial for treating PGD symptoms. Within the present study the effect of positive future mental time travel (PMTT) and neutral future mental time travel (NMTT) on affect and grief in bereaved individuals is investigated. Furthermore, possible mediators between the effect of PMTT and change in PGD symptoms are examined. Results show that PMTT increased happiness and decreased PGD symptoms and negative mood. However, no distinction on aforementioned results is showed between PMTT and NMTT. Nevertheless, in the mediational analyses PMTT showed to predict less severe PGD symptoms after the intervention, which is mediated by a decrease of grief cognitions. PMTT shows to be a promising tool for adaptive positive emotion regulation in bereaved individuals.