This paper reviews the application and research progress of future thinking in managing diabetes, obesity, substance addiction, and mood disorders. It explores how future thinking can enhance health decision-making, self-management, and mental well-being. Suggestions for future research directions are also provided. This review aims to offer insights into effectively applying future thinking in chronic and mental illness health management strategies.

Yang Yang, Luo Hong, Lei Xuezhen, Hu Zhiguo, Xu Jingxi, Xue Bowen. Progress in the Application of Future Thinking in Health Management of Patients with Chronic and Mental Illnesses. Academic Journal of Medicine & Health Sciences (2024), Vol. 5, Issue 12: 6-13. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJMHS.2024.051202.

[1] Vos T, Lim S S, Abbafati C, et al. Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019[J]. The lancet, 2020, 396(10258): 1204-1222.

[2] Huang Y, Wang Y U, Wang H, et al. Prevalence of mental disorders in China: a cross-sectional epidemiological study[J]. The Lancet Psychiatry, 2019, 6(3): 211-224.

[3] Jensen S B, Dalum H S, Korsbek L, et al. Illness management and recovery: one-year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial in Danish community mental health centers: long-term effects on clinical and personal recovery[J]. BMC psychiatry, 2019, 19: 1-12.

[4] Petry N M, Bickel W K, Arnett M. Shortened time horizons and insensitivity to future consequences in heroin addicts[J]. Addiction, 1998, 93(5): 729-738.

[5] Trawley S, Baptista S, Pouwer F, et al. Prospective memory slips are associated with forgetting to take glucose‐lowering therapies among adults with diabetes: results from the second Diabetes MILES–Australia (MILES‐2) survey[J]. Diabetic Medicine, 2019, 36(5): 569-577.

[6] Zheng Li, Hu Zhiguo. Cognitive neural mechanisms of imagining the future and their role in suicide[J].Chinese Journal of Clinical Psychology,2012,20(02):211-213.

[7] Szpunar K K, Spreng R N, Schacter D L. Toward a taxonomy of future thinking[J]. Seeing the future: Theoretical perspectives on future-oriented mental time travel, 2016, 111: 21-35.

[8] Kaplan B A, Reed D D, Jarmolowicz D P. Effects of episodic future thinking on discounting: Personalized age‐progressed pictures improve risky long‐term health decisions[J]. Journal of applied behavior analysis, 2016, 49(1): 148-169.

[9] Jing H G, Madore K P, Schacter D L. Worrying about the future: An episodic specificity induction impacts problem solving, reappraisal, and well-being[J]. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2016, 145(4): 402.

[10] Lloyd B, Oudman E, Altgassen M, et al. Episodic future thinking together with observational learning benefits prospective memory in high‐functioning Korsakoff’s syndrome patients[J]. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 2020, 59(3): 369-383.

[11] Stein J S, Craft W H, Paluch R A, et al. Bleak present, bright future: II. Combined effects of episodic future thinking and scarcity on delay discounting in adults at risk for type 2 diabetes[J]. Journal of behavioral medicine, 2021, 44: 222-230.

[12] Gao X, Liu R. Imagining the future: the mechanism of situational foresight's influence on cross-period decision making[J]. Applied Psychology,2022,28(04):333-343.

[13] Du J Y, Hallford D J, Grant J B. Characteristics of episodic future thinking in anxiety: A systematic review and meta-analysis[J]. Clinical Psychology Review, 2022, 95: 102162

[14] Xu Xiaoxiao, Yu Jing, Lei Xu. Cognitive Processing Components of Imagining the Future and Their Brain Networks [J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2015, 23(3): 394-404.

[15] Tulving E. Episodic and semantic memory[J]. Organization of memory/Academic Press, 1972.

[16] Suddendorf T, Corballis M C. Mental time travel and the evolution of the human mind[J]. Genetic Social and General Psychology Monographs, 1997, 123(2): 133-168.

[17] Atance C M, O'Neill D K. Episodic future thinking[J]. Trends in cognitive sciences, 2001, 5(12): 533-539.

[18] Schacter D L, Addis D R, Buckner R L. Remembering the past to imagine the future: the prospective brain[J]. Nature reviews neuroscience, 2007, 8(9): 657-661.

[19] Szpunar K K. Episodic future thought: An emerging concept[J]. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2010, 5(2): 142-162.

[20] Lu Leian, Wang Chunsheng, Ren Jun. How people envision the future: the effects of future scenario thinking on individual psychology and behavior[J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2021, 29(06): 1086-1096.

[21] Epstein L H, Paluch R A, Stein J S, et al. Role of delay discounting in predicting change in HBA1c for individuals with prediabetes[J]. Journal of behavioral medicine, 2019, 42: 851-859.

[22] Schacter D L, Benoit R G, Szpunar K K. Episodic future thinking: Mechanisms and functions[J]. Current opinion in behavioral sciences, 2017, 17: 41-50.

[23] Ru Yifan, Ding Shanni, Gao Yang,et al. Research progress of future scenario imagery in health behavior decision-making for patients with chronic diseases[J]. Chinese Journal of Nursing, 2023, 58(21): 2677-2682.

[24] Loveday P M, Lovell G P, Jones C M. The best possible selves intervention: A review of the literature to evaluate efficacy and guide future research[J]. Journal of Happiness Studies, 2018, 19: 607-628.

[25] Carrillo A, Rubio-Aparicio M, Molinari G, et al. Effects of the best possible self intervention: A systematic review and meta-analysis[J]. PloS one, 2019, 14(9): e0222386.

[26] Epstein L H, Paluch R A, Stein J S, et al. Delay discounting, glycemic regulation and health behaviors in adults with prediabetes[J]. Behavioral Medicine, 2021, 47(3): 194-204.

[27] Terrett G, Rose N S, Henry J D, et al. The relationship between prospective memory and episodic future thinking in younger and older adulthood[J]. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2016, 69(2): 310-323.

[28] Epstein L H, Jimenez-Knight T, Honan A M, et al. Imagine to remember: an episodic future thinking intervention to improve medication adherence in patients with type 2 diabetes[J]. Patient preference and adherence, 2022: 95-104.

[29] Epstein L H, Paluch R A, Biondolillo M J, et al. Effects of 6-month episodic future thinking training on delay discounting, weight loss and HbA1c changes in individuals with prediabetes[J]. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 2022, 45(2): 227-239.

[30] Bickel W K, Stein J S, Paluch R A, et al. Does episodic future thinking repair immediacy bias at home and in the laboratory in patients with prediabetes?[J]. Psychosomatic medicine, 2020, 82(7): 699-707.

[31] Nutter S, Eggerichs L A, Nagpal T S, et al. Changing the global obesity narrative to recognize and reduce weight stigma: a position statement from the World Obesity Federation[J]. Obesity Reviews, 2024, 25(1): e13642.

[32] Hennessy E A, Johnson B T, Acabchuk R L, et al. Self-regulation mechanisms in health behavior change: A systematic meta-review of meta-analyses, 2006–2017[J]. Health Psychology Review, 2020, 14(1): 6-42.

[33] Colton E, Connors M, Mahlberg J, et al. Episodic future thinking improves intertemporal choice and food choice in individuals with higher weight: A systematic review and meta‐analysis[J]. Obesity Reviews, 2024: e13801.

[34] Daniel T O, Stanton C M, Epstein L H. The future is now: reducing impulsivity and energy intake using episodic future thinking[J]. Psychological science, 2013, 24(11): 2339-2342.

[35] Athamneh L N, Stein M D, Lin E H, et al. Setting a goal could help you control: Comparing the effect of health goal versus general episodic future thinking on health behaviors among cigarette smokers and obese individuals[J]. Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology, 2021, 29(1): 59.

[36] Segovia M S, Palma M A, Nayga Jr R M. Can episodic future thinking affect food choices?[J]. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2020, 177: 371-389.

[37] Noonan D, Lyna P, Kennedy D L, et al. Trajectories of Situational Temptations in Pregnant Smokers participating in a Scheduled Gradual Reduction Cessation Trial[J]. Maternal and child health journal, 2022: 1-7.

[38] Voss A T, Jorgensen M K, Murphy J G. Episodic future thinking as a brief alcohol intervention for heavy drinking college students: A pilot feasibility study[J]. Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology, 2022, 30(3): 313.

[39] Stein J S, Wilson A G, Koffarnus M N, et al. Unstuck in time: episodic future thinking reduces delay discounting and cigarette smoking[J]. Psychopharmacology, 2016, 233: 3771-3778.

[40] Yang Ling, Yang Xiaohui, Zhang Liyuan, et al. Effects of future scenario imagery on decision-making of heroin abstainers across time [J]. Psychological and Behavioral Research, 2021, 19(4): 535-541.

[41] Patel H, Amlung M. Acute and extended exposure to episodic future thinking in a treatment seeking addiction sample: A pilot study[J]. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 2020, 116: 108046.

[42] Hallford D J, Austin D W, Takano K, et al. Psychopathology and episodic future thinking: A systematic review and meta-analysis of specificity and episodic detail[J]. Behaviour research and therapy, 2018, 102: 42-51.

[43] Hallford D J, Barry T J, Austin D W, et al. Impairments in episodic future thinking for positive events and anticipatory pleasure in major depression[J]. Journal of affective disorders, 2020, 260: 536-543.

[44] Zetsche U, Bürkner P C, Renneberg B. Future expectations in clinical depression: Biased or realistic?[J]. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 2019, 128(7): 678.

[45] Benoit R G, Davies D J, Anderson M C. Reducing future fears by suppressing the brain mechanisms underlying episodic simulation[J]. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2016, 113(52): E8492-E8501.

[46] Lu Lidong. Positive Future Imagery Intervention for People with Depressive Tendencies [D]. Hangzhou: Hangzhou Normal University, 2020.

[47] Pietrowsky R, Mikutta J. Effects of positive psychology interventions in depressive patients—A randomized control study[J]. Psychology, 2012, 3(12): 1067.

[48] Vilhauer J S, Young S, Kealoha C, et al. Treating major depression by creating positive expectations for the future: A pilot study for the effectiveness of future‐directed therapy (FDT) on symptom severity and quality of life[J]. CNS neuroscience & therapeutics, 2012, 18(2): 102-109.

[49] Li Xiaoli, Luo Hong. Effects of exception/miracle questioning on nurses' mood, confidence and practical problem solving [J]. Chinese Journal of Practical Nursing, 2016, 32(1): 66-69.