Discussion
depressive, anger, anxiety
DISORDERS, EMA
This analysis of randomized controlled indicated prevention trial data in adults with elevated psychopathological symptoms but without full-threshold mental disorders at study entry examined whether group-based AR training effectively reduced psychopathological symptoms in real-life contexts, assessed in time to experience via smartphone-based EMA. Results illustrate that AR training led to significant improvements in all psychopathological symptoms examined and in health-related emotional, cognitive, and behavioral characteristics. A large proportion of these improvements were not only observed from baseline to post but persisted through 12-month follow-up.Compared with the control group, the intervention group experienced greater decreases in several psychopathological symptoms from baseline to post, including depressive, anxiety, stress, anger, and somatic symptoms as well as sleep problems. Moreover, the intervention group improved more in terms of positive affect, perceived control, and coping behaviors due to AR training. A large proportion of these effects was maintained over the long term and still seen after one year. These results are consistent with our hypotheses and with previous evidence that AR was effective in reducing psychopathological symptoms (e.g., anxiety), particularly in patient samples [