Interference of difficulties in mindful acceptance and emotional intelligence, added to perseverative negative thinking, in emotional balance: A study with a low/high emotional symptomatology clinical sample

Background: Mental health conditions, that exhibit high prevalence within the Portuguese population, can impact individuals' functioning and adversely affect their performance across various aspects of life. Thus, it is crucial to enhance our comprehension of the psychological processes that contribute to the onset or persistence of mental health problems. Recent studies have indicated that mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and perseverative negative thinking could potentially influence emotional symptomatology. However, their relationships and the extent of their association with psychopathology symptoms remain unclear. This study aimed to examine the relationship between mindfulness, perseverative negative thinking, emotional intelligence, sociodemographic factors, and the symptoms reported by patients attending a Portuguese mental health clinic. We expect that lower levels of mindfulness and emotional intelligence along with the presence of perseverative negative thinking would contribute to explain the emotional symptomatology experienced by these patients. Participants and procedure: The clinical sample included 390 individuals (M age = 34.33; SD = 9.99; 66.4% women) receiving cognitive-behavioral therapy at a Portuguese mental health clinic. They completed a self-report questionnaire with scales assessing mindfulness (Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale), perseverative negative thinking (Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire), emotional intelligence (Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale), and emotional symptomatology (Brief Symptom Inventory). Results: The results of the logistic regression model revealed two important findings. Firstly, a negative association between mindfulness (specifically acceptance) and emotional intelligence (particularly the use of emotions and emotion regulation) with emotional symptoms among the patients. Secondly, higher levels of perseverative negative thinking (specifically interference and unproductivity) were linked to a greater manifestation of emotional symptoms. Conclusions: The incorporation of mindfulness, emotional regulation and management of perseverative negative thinking might be considered as contributes to improve results on clinical interventions for patients dealing with emotional symptomatology.