The surge in popularity of emotion regulation
research has increased the risk of premature conclusions
regarding clinical relevance. For example,
the vast majority of studies on emotion regulation
and psychopathology employ cross-section designs
and argue that cross-sectional associations provide
evidence that emotion regulation deficits contribute
to the development and maintenance of psychopathology.
However, as deficits in emotion
regulation may also develop as a result of a mental
disorder, additional prospective research addressing
both putative causal pathways is dearly needed