Behaviour research and therapy
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Counterconditioning in the treatment of spider phobia: effects on disgust, fear and valence.
From the perspective that disgust is a core feature of spider phobia, we investigated whether the treatment efficacy could be improved by adding a counterconditioning procedure. Women with a clinically diagnosed spider phobia (N = 34) were randomly assigned to the regular one-session exposure condition (EXP) or to the exposure with counterconditioning condition (CC). ⋯ CC was not more effective in altering the affective valence of spiders than EXP and was not superior with respect to the long term treatment efficacy at 1 year follow up. Apparently, regular exposure treatment is already quite effective in altering the affective-evaluative component of spider phobia and it remains to be seen whether it is possible to further improve treatment outcome by means of procedures which are specifically designed to reduce the spiders' negative affective valence.
-
Hoarding is a symptom of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), as well as a diagnostic criterion for obsessive compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). One recent study suggests that people who suffer from compulsive hoarding report more general psychopathology than people who do not [Frost, R. O., Krause, M. ⋯ Hoarding subjects had greater personality disorder symptoms than controls. However, OCD hoarding subjects differed from OCD nonhoarding and anxiety disorder subjects only on dependent and schizotypal personality disorder symptoms. The findings suggest that hoarding is associated with significant comorbidity and impairment compared to nonhoarding OCD and other anxiety disorders.
-
Anxiety about pain is increasingly recognized as one factor contributing to increased pain perception and pain behavior [McCracken, L. M., Faber S. D., & Janeck A. ⋯ Functional status was assessed using the Five-Factor Model of the Arthritis Impact Scale, 2nd ed., (AIMS2): Physical Functioning, Affective Experience, Symptoms, Social Interaction and Role Function. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis on each of the AIMS2 criterion variables showed that pain anxiety, pain and symptom self-efficacy, health status and coping strategies were able to explain between 9 and 38% of the variance in the five AIMS2 variables. The present results support the hypothesized role of pain anxiety along with previously established contributions of self-efficacy and coping strategies, in affecting physical, social, emotional and role functioning in chronic RA patients.
-
Comparative Study
Evidence of a disposition toward fearfulness and vulnerability to posttraumatic stress in dysfunctional pain patients.
Few investigations have addressed whether patient subgroups derived using the Multiaxial Assessment of Pain (MAP) [Turk, D. C., & Rudy, T. E. (1987). ⋯ As well, a substantial proportion of dysfunctional and interpersonally distressed patients were classified as having PTSD (71.4 and 42.9%, respectively) when compared to minimizers/adaptive copers (21.3%). These results suggest that MAP subgroups differ with regard to their propensity to be(come) fearful and in their likelihood of having PTSD. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Health anxiety moderates the effects of distraction versus attention to pain.
Little is known about the relationship between health anxiety and chronic pain. The present study explored whether individual differences in health anxiety would influence the response of chronic pain patients to physical therapy. Furthermore, the interaction of health anxiety with coping strategy usage (distraction versus attention) was studied. ⋯ It appears as though attention had a short-term anxiety reducing effect for health anxious patients. Among non-health anxious patients, attention resulted in greater worry about health than distraction. Clinical and theoretical implications are discussed.