Researchers have proposed that older adults who are sensitive to the distress of others are more likely to feel anxious or depressed themselves due to a psychological mechanism called “emotional contagion.”
Emotional contagion is an adaptive response that occurs unconsciously when people mirror the facial expressions, gestures, and postures of others, resulting in a convergence of emotions.
“Just as some people are more likely to contract a respiratory virus through close contact, others are more likely to ‘pick up’ on the emotions of those around them,” said the Dr. Marie-Josée Richereducational psychologist at the University of Montreal, Canada.
Vulnerability to emotional contagion emerged as the most contributing factor to psychological distress in the cross-sectional study conducted by Dr. Richer among 170 older adults facing some form of adversity.
People most vulnerable to emotional contagion were 8.5 to 10 times more likely to have symptoms of anxiety or anxiety-depressive syndrome than those who were less vulnerable.
This research is part of a series of studies on the contagion of stress carried out by Pierrich Plusquellecalso from the University of Montreal and principal investigator of this study.
“We sought to study elements of emotional contagion in older adults in light of known physiological changes in their ability to regulate stress and emotions, and everyday proximity situations, such as caregiving and living in community in a retirement home, which can increase the possibility of emotional contagion,” Dr. Richer explained to Medscape Medical News.
The study was published online October 29 in the journal PLOS Mental Health.
Facing adversity
The researchers studied a wide range of factors: sociodemographic criteria, indicators of autonomy, social support, coping styles, vulnerability to emotional contagion and empathy, in order to evaluate those that most influenced two profiles of psychological distress and a profile without psychological distress.
This cross-sectional study involved 170 elderly people (average age of 76 years; 85% women) living in a community setting in Quebec.
Sixty percent of them lived alone, 90% had completed at least high school, and most had an annual income between $21,000 and $60,000.
All participants were faced with a certain type of adversity (challenges, obstacles, difficult situations) such as bereavement or conflict with a spouse (explicit adversity) or vulnerability to emotional contagion (implicit adversity).
According to the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, 65.9% of participants had clinical or subthreshold levels of anxiety and depression. Based on the scale's clinical cutoff scores for the anxiety and depression subscales, researchers grouped participants into one of three profiles: No distress, anxiety (44% of participants), and anxiety-depressive syndrome (21%).
All demographic indicators between groups were similar except for sex. The proportion of men in the anxiety-depressive syndrome group was slightly higher than expected.
Vulnerability to emotional contagion, satisfaction with their social network and coping styles emerged as factors increasing the probability of belonging to one or other of the psychological distress groups, compared to to people not suffering from any distress.
All groups differed in perceived adversity-related stress. People with no symptoms of distress reported significantly less stress than those in the other two groups.
People with only anxiety symptoms reported less stress than those with anxiety-depressive syndrome.
Additionally, taking medications to treat anxiety or depression was higher among people in the anxiety-depressive syndrome group.
After correcting for adversity and psychotropic treatments, vulnerability to emotional contagion had the strongest relationship with both profiles of psychological distress.
Coping patterns also differed between groups. Overall, participants in the anxiety-depressive syndrome group used fewer proactive, thoughtful, strategic planning, preventive, and emotional support strategies than those in the other two groups.
The authors acknowledged that recruitment bias may have influenced the results, given that more than 75% of the sample lived in upscale private residences. Furthermore, the cross-sectional design of the study does not allow speculation on causality.
In practice
Nevertheless, they conclude: “Our results confirm the value of interventions such as programs aimed at improving satisfaction with one's social network and strengthening cognitive control over emotional contagion in order to reduce or prevent psychological distress in aging populations on the rise.
“When it comes to supporting people in psychological distress, it seems essential to assess the emotional state of their social environment, rather than just its level of support,” said Dr. Richer.
“A deterioration in the emotional state of the social environment, combined with increased vulnerability to the emotions of others, could serve as an indicator of mental health risk.
“We believe it is possible to teach individuals to better manage the positive and negative repercussions of emotional contagion,” she continues. “The first step would be psychoeducation about this type of adversity and its role. The second stage would focus on emotional regulation and coping strategies to help individuals manage the emotions they absorb from others. »
Good emotions too?
Commenting on the study for Medscape Medical News, Alan CohenPhD, associate professor of environmental health sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in New York, said: “It's quite logical, but it's likely that susceptibility to emotional contagion also works for good emotions and has benefits from the beginning of life. » He cited as examples better social skills, a better ability to gauge the mood of a crowd and greater empathy.
“Natural selection likely maintains a balance and diversity of emotional contagion capabilities in human populations, and there are likely advantages and disadvantages to being anywhere on the spectrum,” he said. .
“Perhaps the right 'treatment' would be to expose these people to positive emotional environments. They are the ones who should benefit the most,” he added. “But further research is needed to determine whether [la contagion émotionnelle] is truly symmetrical for good and bad emotions, and if not, what does it mean. »
Dr. Richer and Professor Cohen have not reported any links of interest related to the subject.
This article was translated from Medscape.com using several editorial tools, including AI, in the process. The content was reviewed by the editorial staff before publication.
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