Positive Emotion Infusions of Elevation and Gratitude: Increasing Help-Seeking Among People with Elevated Levels of Depressive Symptomatology

Depression is a major risk factor for suicide; internationally, it is estimated that approximately one suicide occurs every 40 seconds. Accordingly, scholars and practitioners have sought to uncover successful means for increasing help-seeking among people with elevated depressive symptomatology. The goal of the current set of studies is to begin the assessment of a proposed approach for increasing help-seeking behavior; namely, a positive emotion infusion (PEI).  

We use the term PEI to refer to the act of causing a person to experience a short burst of a positively valenced (i.e., pleasurable) emotion with the goal of influencing peoples’ momentary perception of help-seeking behavior, such that it will motivate people with elevated depressive symptomatology to contact someone about their ailment. Even though the rush of positive emotion will be temporary, the hope is that it will be a catalyst that motivates the person with elevated depressive symptomatology to seek help. Once first contact is made, the people in the life of the person with heightened levels of depressive symptomatology will ideally offer assistance and continue to do so long after the brief surge of positive emotion subsides. Simply, we hope that a positive emotion transfusion could set off a chain of events that will result in the person with elevated levels of depressive symptomatology receiving help.

Five studies were conducted to empirically assess whether positive emotion inductions (i.e., elevation, gratitude) can be effective at eliciting the intended emotion among people with elevated depressive symptomatology, and whether short bursts of positive emotion can cause people with elevated depressive symptomatology to be more likely to seek help.

Study 1 indicated that help-seeking intentions were negatively associated with feelings of elevation and gratitude—both emotions were negatively associated with depression. Study 2 revealed that brief positive emotion inductions have the potential to increase levels of elevation and gratitude among people with heightened depressive symptomatology. Study 3 highlights the promise of the proposed approach as means for increasing help-seeking behavior among people with elevated depressive symptomatology but also highlights the need for caution. Specifically, help-seeking intentions increased as a result of the elevation mood inductions among people with elevated depressive symptomatology. The gratitude inductions were somewhat successful, but some evidence of an unintended negative effect was indicated.

Together, these studies indicate the potential success of a PEI, but also indicate that different positive emotions will lead to different responses—some favorable, some possibly unfavorable.