Anxiety sensitivity and cognitive biases for threat

McNally, Richard J.; Hornig, Christopher D.; Hoffman, Emily C.; Han, Edmund M.

doi:10.1016/s0005-7894(99)80045-8

Cited by 52 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Individuals with greater anxiety sensitivity tend to process information in a manner that favours threatening information, for instance, showing heightened memory for threatening words in memory tasks (McNally, Hornig, Hoffman, & Han, 1999;Teachman, 2005). This literature suggests that this trait may also be implicated in the development of overestimation in remembering physical pain experiences.…”

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confidence: 99%

Reappraisal mitigates overestimation of remembered pain in anxious individuals

Hovasapian

Levine

2015

Cognition and Emotion

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Anxiety sensitivity, a trait characterised by fear of anxiety-related body sensations, has been linked to heightened attention to pain, appraising body sensations as threatening, and remembering threatrelated information. We assessed whether individuals with greater anxiety sensitivity overestimate in remembering pain. We also assessed whether emotion regulation strategies that direct attention away from pain (distraction), or alter appraisals of pain (reappraisal), alleviate memory bias. Participants (N = 137) were randomly assigned to one of two emotion regulation conditions or to a control condition before taking part in a cold pressor task. Greater anxiety sensitivity was associated with overestimation in remembering pain. Engaging in reappraisal mitigated this memory bias but engaging in distraction did not. This is the first study to examine the relations among anxiety sensitivity, emotion regulation and memory for pain. The findings suggest that health-care practitioners can encourage reappraisal to promote more positive memories of procedural pain, particularly in patients high in anxiety sensitivity.

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confidence: 99%

Reappraisal mitigates overestimation of remembered pain in anxious individuals

Hovasapian

Levine

2015

Cognition and Emotion

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“…Results of a recently published longitudinal study are in line with this hypothesis (Woud et al, 2014) by revealing that women who interpreted ambiguous panic-related situations in a threatening manner at baseline were more likely to develop PD at follow-up than women without this interpretive bias, even after controlling for anxiety sensitivity and for fear of bodily sensations. Other authors have associated anxiety sensitivity with attentional, interpretive and memory biases (as cognitive risk factors for PD), however there is evidence that cognitive biases rarely correlate strongly with anxiety sensitivity (McNally, Hornig, Hoffman, & Han, 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A multi-factor model of panic disorder: Results of a preliminary study integrating the role of perfectionism, stress, physiological anxiety and anxiety sensitivity

2015

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Título: Modelo multifactorial del trastorno de pánico: resultados de un estudio preliminar sobre el papel del perfeccionismo, estrés, ansiedad fisioló-gica y sensibilidad a la ansiedad. Resumen: Antecedentes: el trastorno de pánico (TP) es un desorden mental altamente prevalente e incapacitante asociado a diferentes factores como el perfeccionismo, estrés, ansiedad fisiológica, y sensibilidad a la ansiedad referente a preocupaciones físicas; sin embargo, no existen estudios que hayan analizado conjuntamente la relación entre dichos factores y el TP en un modelo multifactorial utilizando ecuaciones estructurales. Método: con el objetivo de recoger información sobre estos factores y síntomas autoinformados de TP en el último año según criterios DSM-IV, se llevó a cabo un estudio transversal en una amplia muestra de la población general (N=936). Resultados: el estrés percibido tuvo un efecto significativo a la hora de incrementar la ansiedad fisiológica, que a su vez se asoció de modo importante con las preocupaciones físicas. El perfeccionismo y el estrés percibido se relacionaron indirectamente con el TP durante el último año a través del efecto mediador de la ansiedad fisiológica y las preocupaciones físicas. Las preocupaciones físicas, por un lado, parece ser que mediaron el impacto entre el perfeccionismo y el TP y, por otro lado, mediaron parcialmente la relación entre ansiedad fisiológica y TP. Conclusiones: a pesar de la evidencia existente acerca de la relación entre cada uno de estos factores y el TP, se puede considerar este modelo como un marco teórico que recoge la investigación de forma conjunta y productiva sobre la naturaleza y tratamiento del TP. Palabras clave: Sensibilidad a la ansiedad; trastorno de pánico; perfeccionismo; ansiedad fisiológica; estrés. Abstract:Background: Panic disorder (PD) is a highly prevalent and disabling mental health problem associated with different factors including perfectionism, stress, physiological anxiety, and anxiety sensitivity regarding physical concerns; however, no studies have analyzed the joint relationship between these factors and PD in a multi-factor model using structural equation modeling. Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out to collect data on these factors and self-reported DSM-IV past-year PD symptoms in a large sample of the general population (N=936). Results: Perceived stress had a significant effect in increasing physiological anxiety, which in turn had an important association with physical concerns. Perfectionism and perceived stress had an indirect relation with past year PD via the mediator role of physiological anxiety and physical concerns. Physical concerns, on one hand, seemed to mediate the impact between perfectionism and PD and, on the other, partially mediated the role between physiological anxiety and PD. Conclusions: Although there is considerable evidence on the association between each of these factors and PD, this model can be considered a broader and productive framework of research on the nature and treatment of PD.

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“…However, the nature of such a threat appraisal is unclear. Some evidence suggests that AS is predictive specifically of threat-related cognitive biases [27]. Moreover, expectancy theory [16,17] of which AS is a component, posits that expected feared outcomes are avoided as a function of an individual's level of sensitivity to such outcomes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lonely individuals' increased threat perception [4] may also be a function of AS. Further, participants' Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) scores predict threatrelated cognitive biases [27].…”

Section: Loneliness and Anxiety Sensitivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, trait anxiety is predictive of fearful responses to stressors [21], whereas AS is predictive specifically of fearful responses to the symptoms of anxiety; it is a better predictor of panic attacks than trait anxiety [22][23][24]; avoidance behaviours [25], including other psychopathologies [ See 26]. Although trait anxiety and AS are inextricably correlated [17], the precise nature of this relationship is not yet established [27]. Therefore routinely controlling for trait anxiety in the measure of AS is recommended [28,29].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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