Effects of a Wellbeing Intervention on Inflammation Through Reward and Threat Processes

Interventions that enhance wellbeing have the power to improve both mental and physical health, but the exact mechanisms through which they confer these benefits remain unclear. Inflammation may be a key pathway; there is substantial evidence that both eudaimonic and hedonic wellbeing are associated with lower levels of inflammatory activity (Cole et al., 2015; Brouwers et al., 2013; Ironson et al., 2018), which may in turn have beneficial effects on health (Furman et al., 2019). However, wellbeing may influence inflammation through multiple mechanisms, including reward and threat processes (Dutcher et al., 2021; Eisenberger \& Cole, 2012). Identifying the mediating circuitry will help guide the development of targeted interventions able to protect against inflammation-related diseases, like depression. However, reward and threat processes have yet to be examined as potential mediators of wellbeing's effects on inflammation and health. This study aims to evaluate how wellbeing may influence reward and threat processing and downstream inflammation using a novel savoring intervention (Positive Affect Treatment; PAT)(Craske et al., 2016; Craske et al., 2019). Savoring is a common component of many positive psychology and mindfulness interventions that involves cultivating sustained enjoyment of positive experiences. It is designed to enhance reward processing, which should in turn decrease threat processing and lead to blunted stress responses and reduced downstream inflammation (Eisenberger \& Cole, 2012). The investigators will collect daily diaries, neuroimaging, and questionnaires pre- and post-intervention to assess wellbeing, reactivity to social and nonsocial rewarding experiences, and buffering of stressful experiences in a single-armed pilot trial of 20 participants from the diverse undergraduate population at UCLA. The investigators will also collect blood samples to facilitate examination of immunological biomarkers. By examining reward and threat processing at multiple levels inside and outside of the laboratory, the investigators aim to strengthen the understanding of how wellbeing alters the way humans perceive and interact with the world. Increased reward reactivity and decreased threat reactivity may be two key mechanisms through which wellbeing impacts stress physiology and downstream inflammation. The investigators will examine if the savoring intervention is associated with decreases in circulating inflammatory biomarkers, such as interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-Reactive Protein (CRP), as well as reductions in pro-inflammatory gene expression. This study will also clarify whether savoring is an "active ingredient" driving the mental and physical benefits of many positive psychology and mindfulness interventions.