Pub Date : 2025-08-01Epub Date: 2025-06-30DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103050
Franciska Rehberg, Lydia Rihm, Ariane Göbel, Freya Thiel, Verena C S Büechl, Manon Even, Susan Garthus-Niegel
Background: Despite a growing body of literature, understanding of the relationship between maternal symptoms of perinatal posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the emerging mother-infant bond (MIB) remains limited. This systematic review and meta-analysis elucidates this association considering both general PTSD (gPTSD) symptoms (i.e., not originating from childbirth) as well as childbirth-related PTSD (CB-PTSD) symptoms.
Methods: A comprehensive literature search screening for articles published until 10/03/2024 was conducted. Reporting followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Pooled effect sizes were estimated with random effects models.
Results: The systematic review includes 22 studies (9472 participants) and indicates a positive association between perinatal PTSD symptoms and impaired MIB. However, the relationship might be explained by confounding factors (e.g., depressive symptoms, general psychological distress). Meta-analyses suggest a small to moderate positive association (r = .32) between postnatal gPTSD symptoms and impaired MIB (n = 8) and a moderate positive association (r = .38) between CB-PTSD symptoms and impaired MIB (n = 15). Additional exploratory meta-analyses indicate that within the CB-PTSD construct, general rather than childbirth-related PTSD symptoms are more strongly related to MIB (n = 5).
Limitations: Heterogeneity across studies, methodological complexities in distinguishing perinatal PTSD subtypes, and a small number of studies should be noted.
Conclusions: The results indicate differential associations between gPTSD versus CB-PTSD and MIB. However, further research is required to fully elucidate the relationship between maternal perinatal PTSD and MIB and the role of individual symptom domains to inform the targeted development of interventions.
{"title":"Perinatal PTSD and the mother-infant bond: A systematic review and meta-analysis.","authors":"Franciska Rehberg, Lydia Rihm, Ariane Göbel, Freya Thiel, Verena C S Büechl, Manon Even, Susan Garthus-Niegel","doi":"10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103050","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103050","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Despite a growing body of literature, understanding of the relationship between maternal symptoms of perinatal posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the emerging mother-infant bond (MIB) remains limited. This systematic review and meta-analysis elucidates this association considering both general PTSD (gPTSD) symptoms (i.e., not originating from childbirth) as well as childbirth-related PTSD (CB-PTSD) symptoms.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A comprehensive literature search screening for articles published until 10/03/2024 was conducted. Reporting followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Pooled effect sizes were estimated with random effects models.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The systematic review includes 22 studies (9472 participants) and indicates a positive association between perinatal PTSD symptoms and impaired MIB. However, the relationship might be explained by confounding factors (e.g., depressive symptoms, general psychological distress). Meta-analyses suggest a small to moderate positive association (r = .32) between postnatal gPTSD symptoms and impaired MIB (n = 8) and a moderate positive association (r = .38) between CB-PTSD symptoms and impaired MIB (n = 15). Additional exploratory meta-analyses indicate that within the CB-PTSD construct, general rather than childbirth-related PTSD symptoms are more strongly related to MIB (n = 5).</p><p><strong>Limitations: </strong>Heterogeneity across studies, methodological complexities in distinguishing perinatal PTSD subtypes, and a small number of studies should be noted.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The results indicate differential associations between gPTSD versus CB-PTSD and MIB. However, further research is required to fully elucidate the relationship between maternal perinatal PTSD and MIB and the role of individual symptom domains to inform the targeted development of interventions.</p>","PeriodicalId":48390,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anxiety Disorders","volume":"114 ","pages":"103050"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144817972","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-25DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103055
Philip Hyland , Marcus Broughill , Mark Shevlin , Chris R. Brewin
Background
This study empirically tested several predictions arising from the Memory and Identity (M&I) Theory of ICD-11 Complex PTSD (CPTSD). Specifically, it examined the psychometric properties of two measures—the Experiences of Traumatic Memories Questionnaire (ETMQ) and the Trauma Identity Questionnaire (TIQ)—and tested relationships between different types of trauma exposure, disturbances in memory and identity, and CPTSD symptoms.
Methods
Data were collected from a non-probability based representative sample of the general adult population of the United Kingdom (N = 975), and latent variable modelling was used to test all hypotheses.
Results
Confirmatory factor analytic results provided support for the psychometric properties of the ETMQ and TIQ as measures of traumatic memories and negative identities. Multiple traumatization and interpersonal forms of trauma were associated with more disturbances in trauma memories and negative identities. Seven of the nine model-predicted associations between trauma memories, negative identities, and CPTSD symptoms were observed, including a link between a fragmented sense of self and emotional numbing.
Conclusions
Results support core elements of the M&I Theory, highlighting trauma memory and identity disturbances as key mechanisms in CPTSD.
{"title":"Memory and identity processes in ICD-11 complex posttraumatic stress disorder: Tests of a new theory","authors":"Philip Hyland , Marcus Broughill , Mark Shevlin , Chris R. Brewin","doi":"10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103055","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103055","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>This study empirically tested several predictions arising from the Memory and Identity (M&I) Theory of <em>ICD-11</em> Complex PTSD (CPTSD). Specifically, it examined the psychometric properties of two measures—the Experiences of Traumatic Memories Questionnaire (ETMQ) and the Trauma Identity Questionnaire (TIQ)—and tested relationships between different types of trauma exposure, disturbances in memory and identity, and CPTSD symptoms.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Data were collected from a non-probability based representative sample of the general adult population of the United Kingdom (<em>N</em> = 975), and latent variable modelling was used to test all hypotheses.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Confirmatory factor analytic results provided support for the psychometric properties of the ETMQ and TIQ as measures of traumatic memories and negative identities. Multiple traumatization and interpersonal forms of trauma were associated with more disturbances in trauma memories and negative identities. Seven of the nine model-predicted associations between trauma memories, negative identities, and CPTSD symptoms were observed, including a link between a fragmented sense of self and emotional numbing.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Results support core elements of the M&I Theory, highlighting trauma memory and identity disturbances as key mechanisms in CPTSD.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48390,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anxiety Disorders","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 103055"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144721784","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-25DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103056
Alexandra A. Harrison, Lan Nguyen, Karen Murphy, David Neumann
Social anxiety disorder is a pervasive clinical disorder characterised by intense fear and/or avoidance of one or more social situations, and has been linked to deficits in executive functioning performance. However, methodological differences and mixed results have made it difficult to draw definitive conclusions from individual studies. The current systematic review and meta-analysis collated the results from 49 studies to examine the link between social anxiety disorder and executive functioning across the lifespan. Findings revealed that individuals with social anxiety performed significantly worse than healthy controls or low social anxiety groups on measures of executive functioning (r = -.15), specifically cognitive flexibility (r = -.20), inhibitory control (r = -.18), and global executive functioning (r = -.17). No significant association was evident between working memory and social anxiety (r = -.06). In addition, the type of measure (self-report vs cognitive task) moderated the relationship between social anxiety and executive functioning. Although age did not moderate the overall relationship, the association between the individual domains of executive functioning and social anxiety differed between youth and adults, which may reflect the different developmental timelines between the domains across the lifespan. The findings offer valuable insight into our understanding of the development of executive functions for individuals with social anxiety and could assist with forming new strategies or interventions to improve daily functioning in this clinical population.
{"title":"Assessing executive functioning in individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) across the lifespan: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis","authors":"Alexandra A. Harrison, Lan Nguyen, Karen Murphy, David Neumann","doi":"10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103056","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103056","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Social anxiety disorder is a pervasive clinical disorder characterised by intense fear and/or avoidance of one or more social situations, and has been linked to deficits in executive functioning performance. However, methodological differences and mixed results have made it difficult to draw definitive conclusions from individual studies. The current systematic review and meta-analysis collated the results from 49 studies to examine the link between social anxiety disorder and executive functioning across the lifespan. Findings revealed that individuals with social anxiety performed significantly worse than healthy controls or low social anxiety groups on measures of executive functioning (<em>r</em> = -.15), specifically cognitive flexibility (<em>r</em> = -.20), inhibitory control (<em>r</em> = -.18), and global executive functioning (<em>r</em> = -.17). No significant association was evident between working memory and social anxiety (<em>r</em> = -.06). In addition, the type of measure (self-report vs cognitive task) moderated the relationship between social anxiety and executive functioning. Although age did not moderate the overall relationship, the association between the individual domains of executive functioning and social anxiety differed between youth and adults, which may reflect the different developmental timelines between the domains across the lifespan. The findings offer valuable insight into our understanding of the development of executive functions for individuals with social anxiety and could assist with forming new strategies or interventions to improve daily functioning in this clinical population.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48390,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anxiety Disorders","volume":"115 ","pages":"Article 103056"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144750438","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-22DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103054
Tomoko Kishimoto , Ximing Hao , Jianwei Qian
Deficits in positive emotion regulation (PER) contribute to emotional disorders but are less studied than negative emotion regulation (NER). One maladaptive PER strategy, positive emotion contrast-seeking (PEC-seeking), involves sustaining negative affect to enhance later positive emotions, reinforcing anxiety and depression. This study developed and tested a savoring-based, transdiagnostic intervention to reduce PEC-seeking and alleviate emotional disorder symptoms. A single-blind RCT with 59 Chinese college students with elevated depression and anxiety (majority meeting depression criteria) compared a two-week group savoring meditation intervention to waitlist control. Changes in depression, anxiety, savoring beliefs, and PEC-seeking were assessed at Baseline (T0), MidTest (T1), PostTest (T2), and one-month Follow-up (T3). The experimental group also reported positive and negative affect before and after each group session and individual practice. Savoring meditation significantly reduced depression (T1, d = −1.11, p = .005; T2, d = −1.60, p < .001) with effects maintained at follow-up (T3, p < .001). Negative affect also declined significantly (Session 5, p < .001), though changes in positive affect were not statistically significant. The intervention increased savoring beliefs (T1, d = 1.42, T2, d = 1.41, ps =.003) and reduced PEC-seeking (T1, d = −0.92, p = .027), which in turn mediated reductions in depression. Although anxiety symptoms declined within the experimental group over time, between-group differences did not reach statistical significance. Nonetheless, the effect size was larger for the experimental group (T2, d = 0.34) than for the waitlist group (d = 0.01), suggesting a potential anxiolytic effect of the intervention. These findings suggest that targeting maladaptive PER strategies, especially PEC-seeking, via savoring meditation may effectively reduce emotional disorder symptoms. This study highlights PER’s role in transdiagnostic interventions and provides novel insights into PER-focused therapies.
积极情绪调节缺陷是导致情绪障碍的原因之一,但研究较少。一种适应不良的PER策略,积极情绪对比寻求(PEC-seeking),包括维持消极情绪以增强后来的积极情绪,强化焦虑和抑郁。本研究开发并测试了一种基于味觉的跨诊断干预,以减少寻求pec和缓解情绪障碍症状。一项对59名抑郁和焦虑程度较高的中国大学生(大多数符合抑郁标准)进行的单盲随机对照试验将两周的冥想干预组与候补组进行了比较。在基线(T0)、测试中(T1)、测试后(T2)和一个月随访(T3)时评估抑郁、焦虑、品味信念和pec寻求的变化。实验组也报告了每次小组练习前后和个人练习的积极和消极影响。品味冥想显著减少抑郁(T1, d = - 1.11, p = .005;T2, d = - 1.60, p <; .001),随访时效果维持(T3, p <; .001)。消极情绪也显著下降(第5期,p <; .001),尽管积极情绪的变化没有统计学意义。干预增加了品味信念(T1, d = 1.42, T2, d = 1.41, ps = 0.003),减少了寻找pecc (T1, d = - 0.92, p = .027),这反过来又介导了抑郁的减少。随着时间的推移,实验组的焦虑症状有所下降,但组间差异无统计学意义。尽管如此,实验组的效应量(T2, d = 0.34)大于等候名单组(d = 0.01),表明干预可能具有抗焦虑作用。这些发现表明,通过品味冥想,针对适应不良的PER策略,特别是寻求pec,可能有效地减少情绪障碍症状。这项研究强调了PER在跨诊断干预中的作用,并为PER重点治疗提供了新的见解。
{"title":"Savoring meditation for emotional disorders: Targeting positive emotion regulation deficits","authors":"Tomoko Kishimoto , Ximing Hao , Jianwei Qian","doi":"10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103054","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103054","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Deficits in positive emotion regulation (PER) contribute to emotional disorders but are less studied than negative emotion regulation (NER). One maladaptive PER strategy, positive emotion contrast-seeking (PEC-seeking), involves sustaining negative affect to enhance later positive emotions, reinforcing anxiety and depression. This study developed and tested a savoring-based, transdiagnostic intervention to reduce PEC-seeking and alleviate emotional disorder symptoms. A single-blind RCT with 59 Chinese college students with elevated depression and anxiety (majority meeting depression criteria) compared a two-week group savoring meditation intervention to waitlist control. Changes in depression, anxiety, savoring beliefs, and PEC-seeking were assessed at Baseline (T0), MidTest (T1), PostTest (T2), and one-month Follow-up (T3). The experimental group also reported positive and negative affect before and after each group session and individual practice. Savoring meditation significantly reduced depression (T1, <em>d</em> = −1.11, <em>p</em> = .005; T2, <em>d</em> = −1.60, <em>p</em> < .001) with effects maintained at follow-up (T3, <em>p</em> < .001). Negative affect also declined significantly (Session 5, <em>p</em> < .001), though changes in positive affect were not statistically significant. The intervention increased savoring beliefs (T1, <em>d</em> = 1.42, T2, <em>d</em> = 1.41, <em>ps</em> =.003) and reduced PEC-seeking (T1, <em>d</em> = −0.92, <em>p</em> = .027), which in turn mediated reductions in depression. Although anxiety symptoms declined within the experimental group over time, between-group differences did not reach statistical significance. Nonetheless, the effect size was larger for the experimental group (T2, <em>d</em> = 0.34) than for the waitlist group (<em>d</em> = 0.01), suggesting a potential anxiolytic effect of the intervention. These findings suggest that targeting maladaptive PER strategies, especially PEC-seeking, via savoring meditation may effectively reduce emotional disorder symptoms. This study highlights PER’s role in transdiagnostic interventions and provides novel insights into PER-focused therapies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48390,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anxiety Disorders","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 103054"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144702323","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-19DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103053
Adrian Meule, Leonie Seufert, David R. Kolar
Emetophobia refers to a specific fear of vomiting. There are only few original research studies on this condition and no study that has meta-analytically synthesized findings to describe the characteristics of persons with emetophobia. To this end, we extracted data from 31 reports and—as we examined different dependent variables—each meta-analysis was based on five to 21 samples. The pooled mean age of persons with emetophobia was 29 years but was reduced to 21–27 years when adjusting for publication bias. The pooled mean age of disorder onset was 10 years. The pooled proportion of females was 91 %. The pooled proportions of reporting fear of vomiting oneself, fear of seeing others vomit, or both, were 47 %, 11 %, and 39 %. The most common comorbid mental disorders were social anxiety disorder, depression, and generalized anxiety disorder. The pooled point prevalence of emetophobia was 5 %. Higher emetophobic symptomatology moderately related to higher disgust propensity and higher anxiety, and weakly related to higher depressive symptomatology. This meta-analysis is the first to quantify that most adults with emetophobia are in early adulthood but the disorder started in childhood, almost all are women, the primary locus of fear is vomiting oneself, the most common comorbid mental disorders are other anxiety and affective disorders, and higher emetophobic symptomatology relates to a more general tendency to be easily disgusted and to be anxious. Studies based on representative samples to obtain reliable estimates on the prevalence of emetophobia are needed.
{"title":"Emetophobia (fear of vomiting): A meta-analysis","authors":"Adrian Meule, Leonie Seufert, David R. Kolar","doi":"10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103053","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103053","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Emetophobia refers to a specific fear of vomiting. There are only few original research studies on this condition and no study that has meta-analytically synthesized findings to describe the characteristics of persons with emetophobia. To this end, we extracted data from 31 reports and—as we examined different dependent variables—each meta-analysis was based on five to 21 samples. The pooled mean age of persons with emetophobia was 29 years but was reduced to 21–27 years when adjusting for publication bias. The pooled mean age of disorder onset was 10 years. The pooled proportion of females was 91 %. The pooled proportions of reporting fear of vomiting oneself, fear of seeing others vomit, or both, were 47 %, 11 %, and 39 %. The most common comorbid mental disorders were social anxiety disorder, depression, and generalized anxiety disorder. The pooled point prevalence of emetophobia was 5 %. Higher emetophobic symptomatology moderately related to higher disgust propensity and higher anxiety, and weakly related to higher depressive symptomatology. This meta-analysis is the first to quantify that most adults with emetophobia are in early adulthood but the disorder started in childhood, almost all are women, the primary locus of fear is vomiting oneself, the most common comorbid mental disorders are other anxiety and affective disorders, and higher emetophobic symptomatology relates to a more general tendency to be easily disgusted and to be anxious. Studies based on representative samples to obtain reliable estimates on the prevalence of emetophobia are needed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48390,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anxiety Disorders","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 103053"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144680162","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-17DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103052
Nur Hani Zainal , Natalia Van Doren
Background
Panic disorder (PD) is a chronic and impairing anxiety disorder. Individuals with more sleep disturbances might be predisposed to nine-year PD chronicity. However, linearity assumptions, small predictor sets, and analytic and design limitations have hindered optimal identification of which sleep disturbance variables are distal risk factors for PD chronicity. We thus used machine learning (ML) to predict nine-year PD chronicity using high-dimensional data.
Method
Community-dwelling adults (N = 1054) completed clinical interviews, self-reports, and seven-day sleep actigraphy at Wave 1 (W1) and the same clinical interview at Wave 2 (W2) nine years later. The baseline data comprised 43 actigraphy, self-reported sleep disturbances, clinical, and demographic variables. Seven ML models were examined. Gradient boosting machine (GBM) was the best-performing algorithm. PD chronicity was defined as the presence of a PD diagnosis at both W1 and W2.
Results
The GBM accurately predicted PD chronicity (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC] =.764). Shapley additive explanation analysis showed that the top W1 predictors of PD chronicity were comorbid major depressive disorder, low healthcare utilization, sleep medication use, lengthier wake after sleep onset, and sleep-wake circadian disruptions based on actigraphy and self-reports. Lower household income and younger age were also top predictors. Additionally, the final multivariate model was well-calibrated.
Conclusions
As proposed in our sleep-panic nexus theory, actigraphy and subjective sleep disturbances have essential prognostic value in predicting long-term PD chronicity. Harnessing ML facilitates accurate prediction by identifying complex, nonlinear relations across high-dimensional datasets, possibly improving prevention and treatment tailoring.
{"title":"Sleep disturbances predict nine-year panic disorder chronicity: The sleep-panic nexus theory with machine learning insights","authors":"Nur Hani Zainal , Natalia Van Doren","doi":"10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103052","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103052","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Panic disorder (PD) is a chronic and impairing anxiety disorder. Individuals with more sleep disturbances might be predisposed to nine-year PD chronicity. However, linearity assumptions, small predictor sets, and analytic and design limitations have hindered optimal identification of which sleep disturbance variables are distal risk factors for PD chronicity. We thus used machine learning (ML) to predict nine-year PD chronicity using high-dimensional data.</div></div><div><h3>Method</h3><div>Community-dwelling adults (<em>N</em> = 1054) completed clinical interviews, self-reports, and seven-day sleep actigraphy at Wave 1 (W1) and the same clinical interview at Wave 2 (W2) nine years later. The baseline data comprised 43 actigraphy, self-reported sleep disturbances, clinical, and demographic variables. Seven ML models were examined. Gradient boosting machine (GBM) was the best-performing algorithm. PD chronicity was defined as the presence of a PD diagnosis at both W1 and W2.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The GBM accurately predicted PD chronicity (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC] =.764). Shapley additive explanation analysis showed that the top W1 predictors of PD chronicity were comorbid major depressive disorder, low healthcare utilization, sleep medication use, lengthier wake after sleep onset, and sleep-wake circadian disruptions based on actigraphy and self-reports. Lower household income and younger age were also top predictors. Additionally, the final multivariate model was well-calibrated.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>As proposed in our <em>sleep-panic nexus theory</em>, actigraphy and subjective sleep disturbances have essential prognostic value in predicting long-term PD chronicity. Harnessing ML facilitates accurate prediction by identifying complex, nonlinear relations across high-dimensional datasets, possibly improving prevention and treatment tailoring.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48390,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anxiety Disorders","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 103052"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144704649","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-08DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103051
Alexandra N. Brockdorf , Lauren E. Simpson , David DiLillo
The co-occurrence between pain and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is commonly explained by the mutual maintenance model, which proposes that each condition exacerbates the other. We tested this model by examining within-day associations between pain and PTSD using a three-week ecological momentary assessment (EMA) design. Young adult cisgender women (N = 82) who experienced sexual assault and reported PTSD symptoms and probable alcohol misuse completed three self-report surveys per day assessing momentary pain intensity and PTSD symptoms. Results from a dynamic structural equation model supported hypotheses, such that pain predicted greater PTSD symptoms four hours later and PTSD symptoms predicted greater pain. However, exploratory follow up analyses revealed differential findings by cluster, such that intrusions, negative alterations in cognition and mood, and hyperarousal each predicted subsequent pain, whereas pain predicted only later hyperarousal. Findings add nuance to our understanding of the mutual maintenance model and point to hyperarousal symptoms as a key symptom cluster linking daily pain and PTSD among women who have experienced sexual assault. Findings underscore the potential value of targeting hyperarousal symptoms in integrative interventions.
{"title":"Bidirectional associations between PTSD symptoms and pain in daily life among women survivors of sexual assault","authors":"Alexandra N. Brockdorf , Lauren E. Simpson , David DiLillo","doi":"10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103051","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103051","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The co-occurrence between pain and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is commonly explained by the mutual maintenance model, which proposes that each condition exacerbates the other. We tested this model by examining within-day associations between pain and PTSD using a three-week ecological momentary assessment (EMA) design. Young adult cisgender women (<em>N</em> = 82) who experienced sexual assault and reported PTSD symptoms and probable alcohol misuse completed three self-report surveys per day assessing momentary pain intensity and PTSD symptoms. Results from a dynamic structural equation model supported hypotheses, such that pain predicted greater PTSD symptoms four hours later and PTSD symptoms predicted greater pain. However, exploratory follow up analyses revealed differential findings by cluster, such that intrusions, negative alterations in cognition and mood, and hyperarousal each predicted subsequent pain, whereas pain predicted only later hyperarousal. Findings add nuance to our understanding of the mutual maintenance model and point to hyperarousal symptoms as a key symptom cluster linking daily pain and PTSD among women who have experienced sexual assault. Findings underscore the potential value of targeting hyperarousal symptoms in integrative interventions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48390,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anxiety Disorders","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 103051"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144596435","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-06-18DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103049
Zac Coates, Scott Brown, Michelle Kelly
Previous studies have identified harmful social, physical, and mental impacts due to climate change. Anxiety due to climate change or “climate anxiety” may be an adaptive or reasonable response to a real threat; however, it may also be associated with considerable functional impairment of associated behaviours. In this study, we examined the relationship between climate anxiety and pro-environment behaviours, via an online discrete choice experiment, with 374 participants recruited from prolific academic and undergraduate university recruitment program. This experiment included our discrete choice measure of pro-environment behaviours and self-report survey items examining climate anxiety, general anxiety, death anxiety, and locus of control. We found that a moderate level of climate anxiety may be optimal for making pro-environmental choices, with this group having significantly more eco-friendly choices than participants in the low or high climate anxiety groups. We also examined the relationships between climate anxiety and three other psychological concepts, locus of control, general anxiety, and death anxiety, and found that these 3 factors were positively related to climate anxiety. These findings may indicate that some additional negative mental health outcomes are associated with high levels of climate anxiety. This study provides evidence for the use of discrete choice experiments when examining pro-environment behaviours, which may allow future studies to further examine various other trade-offs or factors such as the cost that participants are willing to “pay” for an eco-friendly option.
{"title":"Understanding climate anxiety and potential impacts on pro-environment behaviours","authors":"Zac Coates, Scott Brown, Michelle Kelly","doi":"10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103049","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103049","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Previous studies have identified harmful social, physical, and mental impacts due to climate change. Anxiety due to climate change or “climate anxiety” may be an adaptive or reasonable response to a real threat; however, it may also be associated with considerable functional impairment of associated behaviours. In this study, we examined the relationship between climate anxiety and pro-environment behaviours, via an online discrete choice experiment, with 374 participants recruited from prolific academic and undergraduate university recruitment program. This experiment included our discrete choice measure of pro-environment behaviours and self-report survey items examining climate anxiety, general anxiety, death anxiety, and locus of control. We found that a moderate level of climate anxiety may be optimal for making pro-environmental choices, with this group having significantly more eco-friendly choices than participants in the low or high climate anxiety groups. We also examined the relationships between climate anxiety and three other psychological concepts, locus of control, general anxiety, and death anxiety, and found that these 3 factors were positively related to climate anxiety. These findings may indicate that some additional negative mental health outcomes are associated with high levels of climate anxiety. This study provides evidence for the use of discrete choice experiments when examining pro-environment behaviours, which may allow future studies to further examine various other trade-offs or factors such as the cost that participants are willing to “pay” for an eco-friendly option.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48390,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anxiety Disorders","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 103049"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144321873","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) plays an important role in the pathology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The amygdala and anterior insula (AI) appear to be important neural correlates of IU. However, the relationship between altered resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) and IU in OCD patients has not been reported.
Methods
This study recruited 39 patients with OCD and 45 healthy controls (HC). IU was measured using the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS). The seed-to-voxel method was used to construct rsFC maps. Between-group differences in rsFC and their correlations with IU were analyzed. Following an eight-week psychological intervention, OCD patients underwent a second assessment. The association between rsFC changes and IU changes was investigated.
Results
OCD patients exhibited significantly higher IUS scores. Significant alterations in rsFC were observed between the left amygdala and the left cerebellum posterior lobe (CPL), as well as between the left AI and the left cuneus in OCD patients. In the OCD group, only the left amygdala - left CPL rsFC significantly correlated with IUS scores. No significant correlations were found between rsFC and IUS scores in the HC group. Longitudinal analysis revealed that changes in the left amygdala - left CPL rsFC were significantly associated with changes in IUS scores.
Conclusions
This study establishes amygdala-cerebellar rsFC as a specific neural signature of IU in patients with OCD, patterns absent in healthy controls. Moreover, the amygdala-cerebellar rsFC displayed longitudinal coupling with IU changes. These findings provide novel insights into the neural mechanisms of OCD pathology.
{"title":"Altered resting-state amygdala-cerebellar functional connectivity is associated with intolerance of uncertainty in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder: A longitudinal study","authors":"Qihui Guo , Rongrong Zhu , Huixia Zhou , Dongmei Wang , Xiangyang Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103048","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103048","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objectives</h3><div>Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) plays an important role in the pathology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The amygdala and anterior insula (AI) appear to be important neural correlates of IU. However, the relationship between altered resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) and IU in OCD patients has not been reported.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>This study recruited 39 patients with OCD and 45 healthy controls (HC). IU was measured using the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS). The seed-to-voxel method was used to construct rsFC maps. Between-group differences in rsFC and their correlations with IU were analyzed. Following an eight-week psychological intervention, OCD patients underwent a second assessment. The association between rsFC changes and IU changes was investigated.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>OCD patients exhibited significantly higher IUS scores. Significant alterations in rsFC were observed between the left amygdala and the left cerebellum posterior lobe (CPL), as well as between the left AI and the left cuneus in OCD patients. In the OCD group, only the left amygdala - left CPL rsFC significantly correlated with IUS scores. No significant correlations were found between rsFC and IUS scores in the HC group. Longitudinal analysis revealed that changes in the left amygdala - left CPL rsFC were significantly associated with changes in IUS scores.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>This study establishes amygdala-cerebellar rsFC as a specific neural signature of IU in patients with OCD, patterns absent in healthy controls. Moreover, the amygdala-cerebellar rsFC displayed longitudinal coupling with IU changes. These findings provide novel insights into the neural mechanisms of OCD pathology.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48390,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anxiety Disorders","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 103048"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144312692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-06-11DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103047
Jasmijn E. van Rossum , Semmy Op den Camp , Renske Uiterwijk , Kay Deckers , Vasiliki Orgeta , Bernice J.A. Gulpers , Sjacko Sobczak
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disabling mental health disorder affecting psychosocial functioning and quality of life. This systematic review is the first to summarize existing global literature on the relationship between PTSD and specific domains of cognitive function in the general population of older adults. We searched PsycINFO, Medline and CINAHL up until November 1st 2024. Studies were included if they were longitudinal cohort or cross-sectional studies of adults aged 60 years and over with a clinical diagnosis of PTSD or subthreshold PTSD symptoms, reporting on any domain of cognitive functioning using a standardised measure. Eighteen good or satisfactory quality articles met criteria for this review, of which three were longitudinal cohort studies and fifteen were cross-sectional studies. PTSD was associated with significant accelerated general cognitive decline and possible accelerated decline in attention and memory over time. Older adults with PTSD additionally performed significantly worse on measures of global cognitive function and memory compared to those without PTSD. For executive function results were mixed; two studies showed significant negative associations, whereas four other studies showed no significant differences between individuals with and without PTSD. Proactive screening of individuals with PTSD for cognitive decline and an additional focus of PTSD treatment on cognitive functioning are needed.
{"title":"PTSD and cognition in older adults: A systematic literature review","authors":"Jasmijn E. van Rossum , Semmy Op den Camp , Renske Uiterwijk , Kay Deckers , Vasiliki Orgeta , Bernice J.A. Gulpers , Sjacko Sobczak","doi":"10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103047","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103047","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disabling mental health disorder affecting psychosocial functioning and quality of life. This systematic review is the first to summarize existing global literature on the relationship between PTSD and specific domains of cognitive function in the general population of older adults. We searched PsycINFO, Medline and CINAHL up until November 1st 2024. Studies were included if they were longitudinal cohort or cross-sectional studies of adults aged 60 years and over with a clinical diagnosis of PTSD or subthreshold PTSD symptoms, reporting on any domain of cognitive functioning using a standardised measure. Eighteen good or satisfactory quality articles met criteria for this review, of which three were longitudinal cohort studies and fifteen were cross-sectional studies. PTSD was associated with significant accelerated general cognitive decline and possible accelerated decline in attention and memory over time. Older adults with PTSD additionally performed significantly worse on measures of global cognitive function and memory compared to those without PTSD. For executive function results were mixed; two studies showed significant negative associations, whereas four other studies showed no significant differences between individuals with and without PTSD. Proactive screening of individuals with PTSD for cognitive decline and an additional focus of PTSD treatment on cognitive functioning are needed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48390,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anxiety Disorders","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 103047"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144280698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}