Rock climbing and acute emotion regulation in patients with major depressive disorder in the context of a psychological inpatient treatment: a controlled pilot trial

BACKGROUND Major depressive disorder is characterized by deficits in emotion regulation. This study examined associations between rock climbing and acute emotion regulating effects in patients with major depression. PATIENTS AND METHODS In a nonrandomized, controlled study, 40 major depressive disorder inpatients were assigned to either a climbing session (n=20) or a relaxation session (n=20). Positive and negative affect, depressiveness, and coping emotions were assessed immediately before and after the session. RESULTS Mixed analyses of variance and covariance revealed significant time × group interaction effects for all assessed outcomes (p≤0.012): positive affect and coping emotions significantly increased and negative affect and depressiveness significantly decreased after the climbing session (1.04≤ Cohen's d ≤1.30), in contrast to a relaxation session (0.16≤ Cohen's d ≤0.36). CONCLUSION The results show that rock climbing is associated with acute emotion regulatory effects. These findings have to be replicated with a randomized design, and future research should pay attention to possible mechanisms of rock climbing in regard to emotion regulation.