REGULAÇÃO EMOCIONAL EM TEMPOS DE PANDEMIA: UM RELATO DE INTERVENÇÃO COM ESTUDANTES UNIVERSITÁRIOS

Abstract

The pandemic caused by coronavirus disease (COVID-19) significantly impacted the lives of a large part of the global population, negatively affecting not only physical, but mental health. Considering that the difficulty in managing emotions can cause and/or intensify psychological distress, an attempt was made to develop an intervention of emotion regulation targeting university students, a group that seems to present a certain susceptibility to mental illness, characteristic that can be accentuated in the pandemic scenario. Thus, an online intervention in the group format was carried out aiming to contribute to a more adaptive management of emotions and, consequently, to a better quality of life. It took place in a single session, structured considering four modules of the Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders (UP): psychoeducation, training for awareness of emotions, cognitive assessment and reassessment, and prevention of emotional avoidance. The intervention presented itself as an accessible way to reduce the psychological impacts of the current context experienced by the students, remaining a suggestion for the development of future actions involving emotional regulation interventions and researches aimed at this group, seeking to promote mental health beyond the pandemic.