Role of self-focussed reappraisal of negative emotion in emergence of emotional symptoms in adolescent girls.

The early phases of anxiety and depressive disorders in adolescence are marked by emotional symptoms that usually emerge in the context of negative life events. To contend with the negative effect of such events, a typical reappraisal strategy is to distance oneself and switch the focus of one's thinking. This brain-imaging study in adolescent girls prone to the development of emotional disorders has found functional changes in key neural networks that are involved in reappraisal and shown that this process is impaired. This is important because it provides an early indication of these common disorders and a potential target for psychological interventions.