Journal of abnormal psychology
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Comparative Study
A comparison of attentional biases and memory biases in women with social phobia and major depression.
Cognitive processes play an important role in the etiology and maintenance of anxiety and depression. Current theories differ, however, in their predictions regarding the occurrence of attentional biases and memory biases in depression and anxiety. ⋯ Both clinical groups exhibited attentional biases for disorder-related words, whereas only depressed participants showed clear evidence of explicit and implicit memory biases. The implications of these results for competing theories are discussed.
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Formal thought disorder (FTD), or disorganized speech, is one of the central signs of schizophrenia. Despite extensive research, the cognitive processes associated with FTD are still unclear. ⋯ Specifically, FTD is strongly associated with impaired executive functioning and with impaired processing of semantic information. Their review indicates that previous research has not yet supported an association between FTD and either an increase in spreading activation or an impairment within the language production system.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we diet: effects of anticipated deprivation on food intake in restrained and unrestrained eaters.
This study examined the effect of anticipated food deprivation on intake in restrained and unrestrained eaters. Participants were randomly assigned to a diet condition, in which they expected to diet for a week, or to a control (no-diet) condition. ⋯ Unrestrained eaters consumed the same amount regardless of condition. These results confirm that merely planning to go on a diet can trigger overeating in restrained eaters, reflecting the dynamic connection between dieting and overeating.
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Restrained and unrestrained eaters were weighted 5 lb (2.27 kg) heavier or 5 lb lighter than their actual weight or were not weighed at all. Unrestrained eaters and restrained eaters who were told they weighed 5 lb less were not affected by the false weight feedback. ⋯ Restrained eaters who believed that they were heavier experienced lowered self-worth and a worsening of mood that led them to relinquish their dietary restraint and overindulge in available food. Implications for patients with eating disorders are discussed.
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This study compared depressive and anxious symptoms in chronic medically ill individuals and depressed psychiatric inpatients using conceptually based standardized measures of cognitions and symptoms. Seventy-five hospitalized medical patients, 52 depressed psychiatric inpatients, and 25 normal controls were assessed with the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev.; American Psychiatric Association, 1987), the Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire, Hamilton Rating Scales of Anxiety and Depression, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scales, Beck Depression Inventory, Cognitions Checklist, and Hopelessness Scale. Analysis revealed that depression in medical patients was best distinguished by symptoms of anhedonia, low positive affect, and physiological hyperarousal, whereas syndromal depression in psychiatric inpatients was specifically characterized by negative cognition symptoms. Implications are discussed for assessing depression in medically ill populations.