A Therapeutic Tool for Boosting Mood: The Broad-Minded Affective Coping Procedure (BMAC)

Abstract

The broaden-and-build theory of emotions suggests that positive emotions such as happiness and hope expand thought-action repertoires and support the building of resources and resilience to a variety of psychological disorders. Even brief, transient experiences of positive emotions have been found to increase resilience measured one month later, suggesting a role for clinical mood inductions. This study presents a preliminary test of the new Broad-Minded Affective Coping (BMAC) procedure, a positive emotion induction technique involving the recall of positive autobiographical memories. Fifty people with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders were randomly allocated to a condition where they either experienced the BMAC or a control procedure. Participants who took part in the BMAC showed greater increases in both hope and happiness. These results suggest that the BMAC represents a practical and effective method for boosting mood amongst individuals with psychosis-spectrum disorders.