Anxiety sensitivity and pain-related anxiety in the prediction of fear responding to bodily sensations: A laboratory test

Abstract

Objective The present investigation sought to examine the simultaneous effects of anxiety sensitivity and pain-related anxiety on fear and anxious responding to a 10% carbon dioxide enriched air challenge. Methods Participants included 247 adults (53% women; age M = 21.91 years, SD = 8.41) recruited from the community. At the laboratory, participants were administered a structured clinical interview, completed a battery of self-report measures, and underwent a 10% carbon dioxide enriched air challenge. Results Both anxiety sensitivity and pain-related anxiety were significantly and uniquely predictive of post-challenge panic attacks, total post-challenge panic attack symptoms, and intensity of cognitive panic attack symptoms. Anxiety sensitivity, but not pain-related anxiety, also was predictive of post-challenge physical panic symptoms. The observed significant effects for both anxiety sensitivity and pain-related anxiety were evident above and beyond the variance accounted for by gender, age, current level of non-specific bodily pain, and negative affectivity. Neither anxiety sensitivity nor pain-related anxiety was significantly predictive of change in anxiety focused on bodily sensations or heart rate. Conclusion Results suggest that anxiety sensitivity and pain-related anxiety, although related to one another, may be independently important variables underlying fear reactivity to bodily sensations.

Identifying pain perceptual biases related to fear of pain and threat in a pain‐free sample

“…As shown there, supporting the integrity of high versus low FOP groups, a highly significant difference was evident on the FPQ‐III‐C. Also, on the conceptually related ASI (Farris, Bond, Wu, Stabile, & Abrantes, 2018; Gonzalez, Zvolensky, Hogan, McLeish, & Weibust, 2011), high FOP group had higher scores on anxiety sensitivity measures than the low FOP group did. FOP groups did not differ on age, education or STAI‐T.…”

Pain-related anxiety influences pain perception differently in men and women: A quantitative sensory test across thermal pain modalities

“…Sex-specific effects in pain perception suggest that researchers should attempt to examine relationships independently in each sex, rather than removing variance by means of including sex as a variable in a linear model (eg, regression, analysis of covariance [27,28,33]). Similarly, the different pain modalities (ie, heat and cold) and measures of pain perception (eg, intensity, tolerance) exhibited different findings and future research may benefit from utilizing numerous pain induction techniques and measures.…”

Panic Attack History and Anxiety Sensitivity in Relation to Cognitive-Based Smoking Processes Among Treatment-Seeking Daily Smokers

“…Integrative models of panic psychopathology and other clinical anxiety conditions (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder, certain specifi c phobias) posit that panic attacks play a central role in interoceptive fear conditioning, thereby promoting the belief that certain bodily sensations may be personally dangerous or threatening ( Bouton, Mineka, & Barlow, 2001 ;Falsetti & Resnick, 2000 ;Forsyth & Eifert, 1996 ;Jones & Barlow, 1990 ). Although much existing work has focused on the role of AS in predicting future panic attacks and related forms of psychopathology ( Gonzalez, Zvolensky, Hogan, McLeish, & Weibust, 2011 ;Hayward, Killen, Kraemer, & Taylor, 2000 ;Maller & Reiss, 1992 ;Schmidt, Lerew, & Jackson, 1999 ;Schmidt, Zvolensky, & Maner, 2006 ), other studies suggest persons with panic attacks, compared with those without such histories, are more apt to report signifi cantly elevated levels of AS ( Taylor, Koch, & McNally, 1992 ), suggesting a possible bidirectional relation between these two related, yet distinct, constructs ( Schmidt, Lerew, & Joiner, 2000 ).…”