WISE INTERVENTIONS

Young adults were asked to “recall an experience in which they felt overwhelming feelings of sadness and depression.” Then, participants were (1) asked to adopt a self-distanced perspective (“Go back to the time and place of the experience…take a few steps back and move away from your experience…watch the experience unfold as if it were happening all over again to the distant you”), (2) asked to adopt a self-immersed perspective (“relive the situation as if it were happening to you all over again”) or (3) were distracted by responding to various survey statements (e.g., “pencils are made with graphite”). One and seven days later, participants in the self-distanced condition showed reduced depressed affect and reported experiencing fewer recurring thoughts about their depression experience.