The effectiveness of self-distanced versus self-immersed reflections among adults: systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental studies

Stressor events can be highly emotional and disruptive to our functioning, yet they also present opportunities for learning and growth via self-reflections. Self-distanced reflections in which one reasons about target events in ways that maximise their removal of the current self from the experiential reality are said to facilitate this reflective process. We tested the expectation that self-distanced reflections offer an advantage over self-immersed vistas via a pre-registered systematic review of seven electronic databases (Scopus, Medline, Web of Science, PsycInfo, CINAHL Plus, Embase, and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global) to identify experimental tests with adults aged 18–65 years where the focus of the reflection was a stressor or adverse event that participants had already experienced. A three-level, random effects meta-analysis of 25 experiments (N = 2,397, 68 effects) revealed a small-to-moderate advantage of self-distanced reflections (g = 0.19, SE = 0.07, 95% CI [0.05, 0.33]) and were most effective when they targeted a stressor experience that emphasised one's emotional state or lifetime. Nevertheless, our assessment of the overall quality of evidence including risk of bias suggested uncertainty regarding the benefit of this pragmatic self-regulatory tactic and therefore the need for future high-powered, high-quality experiments.