Thought control strategies predict emotion regulation abilities in patients with frontal lobe epilepsy

Background: The aim of the present study was to examine whether thought control strategies can determine emotion regulation abilities in patients with frontal lobe epilepsy. Methods: 35 Patients with frontal lobe epilepsy and 35 healthy individuals completed emotion regulation questionnaire (Gross & John, 2003) and rated their thoughts on thought control questionnaire (Wells & Davies, 1994). Results: Multivariate analysis showed that patients with frontal lobe epilepsy had lower scores on thought control strategies such as distraction, social control, reappraisal and emotion regulation as compared to healthy individuals. In contrast, patients had higher scores on worry and punishment. Pearson correlations revealed that distraction, social control, and reappraisal had significant positive correlation with emotion regulation abilities whereas worry and punishment had inverse correlation with emotion regulation. Linear regression showed that thought control strategies could predict emotion regulation abilities in patients with frontal lobe epilepsy. Conclusions: Results indicate that patients with frontal lobe epilepsy do not benefit from distraction, social control and reappraisal when they regulate emotions. Alongside, worry and punishment interfere with emotion regulation.