Coping with Emotional Distress

Dear Colleagues,

Coping with emotional distress is a critical aspect of maintaining mental health and well-being across the lifespan. Emotional distress can manifest in various forms, including anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders. This Special Issue aims to gather evidence-based research on the diverse aspects of coping with emotional distress, including theoretical frameworks, empirical studies, and intervention strategies.

The Need for Comprehensive Research

In the context of mental health, emotional distress is frequently assessed using outcome measures and assessment tools. However, the literature reveals a significant heterogeneity in coping strategies to deal with emotional distress. This heterogeneity can be seen as positive in addressing the multiple needs of clinical settings, but it often results in clinicians having conflicting or incomplete information when making patient care decisions. The lack of consistency and standardization in assessment and management procedures has hindered comparative research and meta-analyses, highlighting the need for more comprehensive and standardized approaches.

Research Areas

We invite contributions that cover a broad range of research areas related to coping with emotional distress. These include, but are not limited to:

• Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: Comprehensive reviews of existing literature on coping mechanisms and their efficacy in reducing emotional distress.
• Longitudinal Studies: Long-term studies examining the development and impact of emotional distress over time and the effectiveness of coping strategies in different life stages.
• Cross-Sectional Studies: Studies that explore the prevalence and correlates of emotional distress in various populations, including cultural adaptations of assessment tools.
• Intervention Studies: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and other intervention studies evaluating the effectiveness of different therapeutic approaches, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), mindfulness-based interventions, and other psychological treatments.
• Quantitative and Qualitative Studies: Both quantitative and qualitative research designs are welcome, including surveys, interviews, and mixed-methods approaches to understand the complex nature of emotional distress and coping mechanisms.
• Cultural and Sociocultural Influences: Studies examining how cultural and sociocultural factors influence the experience and management of emotional distress.
• Technology-Based Interventions: Research on the use of digital technologies, such as mobile apps and online platforms, in delivering mental health interventions and supporting coping strategies.
• Psychometric Studies: Investigations into the psychometric properties of assessment tools and coping inventories to ensure their reliability and validity across different populations.

Importance of the Research

This Special Issue aims to contribute to the development of clinical practice and research by providing practical and universally accepted procedures for assessing and managing emotional distress. The findings from this issue will help in:

• Improving Clinical Practice: By identifying effective coping strategies and therapeutic interventions, clinicians can make more informed decisions in patient care.
• Enhancing Research Quality: Standardized and validated procedures will facilitate high-quality comparative research and meta-analyses, advancing our understanding of emotional distress and its management.
• Promoting Mental Health: The dissemination of evidence-based recommendations will support public health initiatives aimed at reducing emotional distress and promoting mental well-being.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. María del Sequeros Pedroso-Chaparro
Prof. Dr. Carlos Vara-Garciá
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• anxiety
• depression
• emotional distress
• coping mechanisms
• mental health
• resilience
• stress
• suicide