Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry最新文献

Background and objectives

Research indicates the presence of both explicit and implicit memory biases for threat. However, empirical support for the presence of memory biases related to symmetry, ordering and arranging is lacking, despite the fact that many individuals report anxiety associated with their personal belongings being out of place. The aim of this experiment was to examine memory biases for disorderliness and their associations with symmetry, ordering and arranging symptoms.

Methods

Eighty undergraduate participants were assigned to one of four conditions, consisting of rooms in which objects were arranged according to different levels of disorderliness (orderly, slightly disorderly, slightly orderly, and disorderly). Participants next completed a memory task in which their memory for disordered vs. ordered objects was assessed. Measures of OCD symptoms, preference for symmetry, OCD belief domains, anxiety and depression were completed.

Results

Analyses indicated that participants in the slightly disorderly condition showed significantly better recall and recognition for the disordered items than for the ordered items, and that those in the slightly orderly condition showed the same pattern in recall, but not recognition. No associations were found between a preference for symmetry and memory biases.

Limitations

The sample scored particularly low on our measure of symptoms of preference for symmetry, compromising the generalizability of our results.

Conclusions

Findings provide evidence for a general memory bias for disorderliness, although this bias does not appear to be associated with symmetry, ordering and arranging symptoms. Results are discussed from a cognitive-behavioural perspective with the consideration of feelings of incompleteness.

Background and objectives

Cognitive theories propose that individuals with heightened depression are characterized by biases in memory and interpretation, favoring the processing of negative information. Individuals with heightened depression exhibit a negative memory bias, and this bias is disproportionately evident when emotional information is processed in a self-referential manner. In studies investigating whether individuals with heightened depression exhibit a negative interpretative bias, the measures employed have often been compromised by serious methodological limitations. When interpretation has been measured using an eye-blink modulation approach, which overcomes these limitations, evidence of depression-linked negative interpretive bias has emerged. However, the important issue of whether this bias depends upon self-referential processing has gone unresolved.

Method

In the present study, we assessed interpretation using the eye blink modulation approach, in participants scoring high or low on the Beck Depression Inventory-II. A simple manipulation ensured that ambiguous information either was, or was not, processed in a self-referential manner.

Results

The results showed that, when ambiguous information was processed in a self-referential manner, participants scoring high on the BDI-II displayed blink magnitudes indicating greater negative interpretative bias compared to participants scoring low on the BDI-II. This was not the case when ambiguous information was processed in an other-referential manner.

Limitations

The present findings do not permit the inference that this negative interpretive bias causally contributes to depressive symptomatology.

Conclusions

The results support the hypothesis that people with high levels of depression display greater negative interpretive bias than people with low levels of depression, but only when ambiguous information is processed in a self-referential manner.

Background and objectives

The burden of statistics anxiety on students calls for effective interventions. This study investigated whether a cognitive reappraisal training designed to stimulate the generation of positive re-interpretations may yield behavioral changes in anxiety measures and changes in cerebral activation patterns reflecting the activation of approach/avoidance motivational tendencies (frontal EEG alpha asymmetry response).

Methods

Three groups of female psychology students (n = 45) with statistics anxiety were tested. Two groups received a guided, two-week reappraisal training with either statistics-anxiety or general anxiety situations; the control group received no intervention.

Results

Both training groups significantly increased their amount of positive re-interpretations from pre-to post-test compared to the control group. Increased habitual use of reappraisal in statistics situations and significant EEG changes reflecting more approach-oriented coping with anxiety occurred in the statistics-anxiety training group only. No changes in statistics anxiety and statistics attitudes were observed, suggesting that the training effects, though corroborated through neurophysiological changes, did not sufficiently translate to improving students’ deep-rooted anxiety.

Limitations

Effects, though robust and following the same pattern, were observed in a small sample.

Conclusions

Our findings delineate a promising expandable approach for helping students’ cope with statistics anxiety in a healthier way.

Background and objectives

Depersonalisation/derealisation symptoms are prevalent in psychosis patients, are associated with increased impairment, and may maintain psychosis symptoms. We aimed to establish the feasibility and acceptability of a brief, six session therapy protocol adapted from a Cognitive-Behavioural model of Depersonalisation-Derealisation Disorder (DDD) in participants with psychotic symptoms.

Methods

A single-blind, randomised controlled trial was conducted with a treatment-as-usual control condition. Feasibility and acceptability estimates included rates of referral, acceptance, eligibility, consent, satisfaction and improved skills/knowledge to manage depersonalisation.

Results

Twenty-one individuals were recruited to the trial. Results suggest that the intervention was feasible and acceptable to participants and there is some signal of effect on clinical outcomes.

Limitations

There were some challenges in recruitment. Recruitment feasibility estimates from the research register used may not be informative for future trials recruiting directly from teams.

Conclusions

Overall, the results suggest that further investigations would be of interest and recommendations for this are made.

Background and objectives

Understanding how individuals integrate new information to form beliefs under changing emotional conditions is crucial to describing decision-making processes. Previous research suggests that although most people demonstrate bias toward optimistic appraisals of new information when updating beliefs, individuals with dysphoric psychiatric conditions (e.g., major depression) do not demonstrate this same bias. Despite these findings, limited research has investigated the relationship between affective states and belief updating processes.

Methods

We induced neutral and sad moods in participants and had them complete a belief-updating paradigm by estimating the likelihood of negative future events happening to them, viewing the actual likelihood, and then re-estimating their perceived likelihood.

Results

We observed that individuals updated their beliefs more after receiving desirable information relative to undesirable information under neutral conditions. Further, we found that individuals did not demonstrate unrealistic optimism under negative affective conditions.

Limitations

This study incorporated a population of university students under laboratory conditions and would benefit from replication and extension in clinical populations and naturalistic settings.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that momentary fluctuations in mood affect how individuals integrate information to form beliefs.

Background and objectives

Imagery-based techniques have become a promising means in the treatment of test anxiety (TA). Although previous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of imagery-based treatment, not all clients seem to benefit from it. The present study compares clients' pre- as well as post-treatment emotion dynamics between responders and non-responders. Furthermore, it examines treatment-related changes in emotion dynamics in both subgroups.

Methods

The results are based on 44 clients suffering from TA who underwent a six-session imagery-based treatment and include Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA). Emotions were assessed with the Profile of Mood States four times a day over the course of two weeks before and after the treatment. Temporal networks were computed to index emotion dynamics.

Results

Pre-treatment emotion dynamics differed between responders and non-responders. Similarly, post-treatment emotion dynamics differed as well between both groups. Some changes were also observed between pre-treatment and post-treatment networks: for responders, fatigue no longer predicted anger, and depression predicted itself; for non-responders, calmness predicted fatigue, anger, depression, contentment, and anxiety. In addition, fatigue no longer predicted itself and anxiety predicted vigor.

Limitations

The investigation is marked by several limitations: a liberal inclusion threshold of at least a 50% response to EMA prompts, and a relatively homogenous sample.

Conclusion

These results provide first evidence for the idea that emotion dynamics may be associated with response to treatment for TA. Furthermore, effective imagery-based treatments may be tied to changes within these dynamics.

Background and objectives

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been referred to as the “doubting disease,” yet there has been little foundational research on its phenomenology and characteristics. Studies of doubt have relied on researchers’ idiosyncratic conceptualizations of the construct, resulting in varied assessment methods and different prevalence rates (11–75%). We examined the nature and characteristics of doubt in people with clinical and subclinical OCD so as to identify its nature and characteristics, and factors that may be unique to OCD.

Methods

A semi-structured interview about doubt was administered to people with OCD (N = 44) and with subclinical OCD (N = 21).

Results

Doubt was highly prevalent and manifested as a form of obsession, uncertainty about whether a task was done properly, and/or lack of confidence in memory and perceptions. All participants took action to resolve doubt and/or proactively pre-empt or reduce future doubt. Doubt was deeply connected to negative core beliefs about the self. The groups did not differ on their experience of doubt, except that greater symptom severity was associated with greater interference from doubt, less ability to resist it, and less success of proactive, but not reactive, strategies to manage it.

Limitations

We relied on retrospective report, and the subclinical group was relatively small.

Conclusions

In subclinical and clinical OCD, doubt is pervasive, manifests in three domains, is connected to negative core beliefs, and is highly aversive. Continued empirical study of doubt is essential to proper assessment and to development of theories and treatment of OCD.

Background and objectives

Over the past 25 years Mental Contamination (MC) has become recognised as a distinct construct, particularly in relation to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). MC is defined as feelings of contamination, often located internally, that arise in the absence of contact with a contaminant, with the source proposed to be human. Despite considerable interest from researchers and clinicians, there has not been a systematic review on the relationship between MC and OCD. Therefore, a systematic review was conducted to summarise and synthesise the current status of phenomenological and experimental evidence, mechanisms, assessment, measurement, and treatment of MC in OCD (PROSPERO: CRD42021223119).

Methods

All study designs were eligible provided the focus of the study was on MC and the implications of the study were linked to OCD. We searched PsychINFO, Embase, Medline, Ethos, ProQuest, conference abstracts and trial registries between 1990 and 2021. The Mixed Methods Appraisal tool was used to assess methodological quality of included studies.

Results

We found 58 reports with a total of 67 studies that met criteria for inclusion in the review. Twenty-three of these studies used clinical samples, 28 were experimental, 12 focused on phenomenology and 8 addressed treatment. The quality of the studies was variable.

Limitations

Grey literature was not included, thus there may be further unpublished MC studies that have not been included in the review.

Conclusions: Based on the findings, mental contamination is a robust clinical construct within OCD that has important implications for understanding and treating the disorder.

Background and Objectives

Individuals with hoarding disorder, especially those with problems around acquiring, typically demonstrate a lack of motivation and awareness of their problematic behaviours. Since acquiring behaviours are important targets in interventions for hoarding, effective strategies for increasing motivation in this population are required to enhance the acceptability and efficacy of these interventions.

Methods

The aim of the current study was to evaluate the ability of a brief online motivational intervention to reduce acquiring in a community sample of high acquirers (N = 159). Participants were randomly assigned to either a motivational interviewing protocol (n = 73) or progressive muscle relaxation control condition (n = 86). Readiness to change and motivation to acquire was measured via self-report, and acquiring behaviour was measured using a modified version of the Preston Acquisition Decision Making Task (to increase ecological validity).

Results

In both conditions, participants’ readiness and motivation to change increased over time. Contrary to hypotheses, the magnitude of this improvement did not significantly differ between conditions. Furthermore, conditions did not perform differently on the behavioural measure of acquiring.

Limitations

Insufficient dose of the intervention may have precluded any differences being observed between conditions.

Conclusions

Results underscore the need to better address the problem of lowered motivation in this population.

Background and objectives

People with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) evaluate themselves negatively before, during, and after anxiety-provoking social situations, which leads to negative consequences (e.g., performance deficits, memory impairments, and post-event processing). Despite decades of research, little is known regarding whether these evaluations generalize to how they view others. Social projection theory—the belief that others are similar to oneself—might further extend the basic Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) model. Our aim was to understand whether the degree to which people negatively evaluate a visibly anxious person causes them to negatively evaluate themselves.

Methods

172 unselected participants completed several baseline questionnaires. We then randomly assigned participants to provide high-, medium-, or no-evaluation of a videotaped anxious person (i.e., other-evaluations) while we assessed their state anxiety. After, they evaluated the anxious person on multiple criteria. Participants then participated in an impromptu conversation task and subsequently evaluated their own performance.

Results

Although our manipulation was effective, we found no emotional or behavioural differences between conditions. However, people in the high-evaluation condition recalled significantly fewer facts about their conversation partner than did people in the medium- and no-evaluation conditions.

Limitations

After data cleaning, the sample size was slightly smaller than planned; most analyses were nonetheless appropriately powered. Our findings may not generalize beyond unselected undergraduate students; replication in a clinical sample is warranted.

Conclusions

These findings highlight the cognitive consequences (i.e., memory impairments) of other-evaluations, which cognitive behavioural therapists should consider when treating individuals with SAD.