Attentional Bias in Anxiety Disorders Following Cognitive Behavioral Treatment

Tobon, Juliana I.; Ouimet, Allison J.; Dozois, David J. A.

doi:10.1891/0889-8391.25.2.114

Cited by 43 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…CBT might modify attentional bias by more than one mechanism (Tobon et al 2011). For example, one possible interpretation of the present results is that CBT may be effective in directly reducing attentional bias by teaching children strategies to reduce the extent to which they allocate attention to task-irrelevant emotional information.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research using various experimental paradigms, such as the visual probe task (MacLeod et al 1986) and the emotional Stroop task (Mathews and MacLeod 1985), has shown that adults with clinical anxiety as well as high levels of trait anxiety have greater attentional bias for threatening material than non-anxious individuals (for review and meta-analysis of 172 studies, see Bar-Haim et al 2007). Furthermore, a review of research examining the effect of CBT on attentional bias to threat, indicates that the majority of studies found that the bias is reduced by CBT in anxious adults (Tobon et al 2011). This decrease in attention bias during CBT may be due to anxious individuals developing attention control strategies to minimize processing of negative stimuli and thoughts unrelated to current goals and activities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This decrease in attention bias during CBT may be due to anxious individuals developing attention control strategies to minimize processing of negative stimuli and thoughts unrelated to current goals and activities. The reduction in bias may also relate to reduction in anxiety symptoms with CBT (Tobon et al 2011). In addition, reduction in anxiety symptoms during CBT may improve attention control, given that Eysenck et al's (2007) attention control theory proposes that anxiety impairs attention control.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Attention Control and Attention to Emotional Stimuli in Anxious Children Before and After Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

et al. 2015

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This study investigated attention control and attentional bias for emotional stimuli in children with anxiety disorders, compared with disorder-free children. Furthermore, it examined the effect of individual cognitive behavioral therapy on these attentional variables in anxious children. Participants included 22 anxious and 20 control children (aged 7-12 years; 50 % female). Attention control was measured using a partial report-by-color task based on the theory of visual attention, which assesses ability to focus on task-relevant information and resist distraction by non-emotional task-irrelevant information. Attentional bias for emotional faces was assessed using a visual probe task with angry, happy, and neutral faces. Anxious and control children were assessed at baseline (pre-treatment) and, in addition, anxious children were re-assessed post-treatment and at 6 months following treatment. Before treatment, children with clinical anxiety showed poorer attention control and greater attentional bias for emotional faces in comparison to control children. Following treatment, anxious children showed a significant reduction in attentional bias for emotional faces, and a trend for improvement in attention control. There was no significant change in attentional bias or attention control between post-treatment and 6-months follow-up assessments. Findings contribute to prior research by showing that clinically anxious children exhibit both increased attention to emotional information and impaired attention control, and that following treatment their attentional bias and attention control are comparable with those of control children. Further research is required to clarify the extent to which changes in attentional functioning relate to the maintenance of anxiety disorders and responsiveness to treatment.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Attention Control and Attention to Emotional Stimuli in Anxious Children Before and After Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

et al. 2015

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“…CBT includes training in cognitive restructuring of maladaptive beliefs (cognitive change) and behavioral strategies such as exposure to avoided situations (situation selection) and is an effective treatment for many types of psychological problems. To a lesser degree, CBT also works toward modifying maladaptive patterns of situation modification, attentional deployment [68], and response modulation emotion-regulatory strategies. CBT is the gold-standard intervention for SAD [43].…”

Section: Cognitive Behavioral Therapymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Emotion and Emotion Regulation in Social Anxiety Disorder

Jazaieri

Morrison

Goldin

et al. 2014

Curr Psychiatry Rep

134

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Many psychiatric disorders involve problematic patterns of emotional reactivity and regulation. In this review, we consider recent findings regarding emotion and emotion regulation in the context of social anxiety disorder (SAD). We first describe key features of SAD which suggest altered emotional and self-related processing difficulties. Next, we lay the conceptual foundation for a discussion of emotion and emotion regulation and present a common framework for understanding emotion regulation, the process model of emotion regulation. Using the process model, we evaluate the recent empirical literature spanning self-report, observational, behavioral, and physiological methods across five specific families of emotion regulation processes-situation selection, situation modification, attentional deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation. Next, we examine the empirical evidence behind two psychosocial interventions for SAD: cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). Throughout, we present suggestions for future directions in the continued examination of emotion and emotion regulation in SAD.

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“…In a recent review of threat perception in CBT with anxious adults, 10 of 13 studies showed reduced attentional bias after CBT [15]. However, included studies used a variety of more or less explicit experimental paradigms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Threat perception predicts cognitive behavioral therapy outcomes in anxious children

Manassis¹,

Hum²,

Lee³

et al. 2013

OJPsych

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Objective: Anxiety disorders of childhood are prevalent, debilitating conditions that do not always respond to existing treatments. Attentional biases towards threatening stimuli have been reported in anxious children and hypothesized to interfere with treatment response. Therefore, we examined such biases in children with anxiety disorders in relation to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) outcomes. Method: Thirty-eight children diagnosed with anxiety disorders in a specialized clinic (21 girls and 17 boys; age = 10.50 ± 1.11 years) and 36 unaffected community controls (19 girls and 17 boys; age = 10.20 ± 1.07 years) participated. Participants completed standardized questionnaire measures of anxiety and a probe position task (PPT) with facial cues. This task often reveals a response slowing effect related to threatening faces in vulnerable individuals. Children with anxiety disorders repeated these measures after completing CBT. Results: Groups did not differ in performance on the PPT, but angry/calm incongruent difference scores were significantly associated with self-reports of social anxiety and state anxiety. When controlling for pre-CBT anxiety levels, incongruent difference scores involving angry faces predicted post-CBT anxiety disorders index scores on the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children. PPT scores did not change significantly with CBT. Conclusions: Attentional bias towards threat on the PPT task may predict response to CBT and appears linked to social anxiety. Interventions to ameliorate this bias merit further study, as they might improve treatment outcomes for anxious, especially socially anxious, children.

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Attentional Bias in Anxiety Disorders Following Cognitive Behavioral Treatment

Cited by 43 publications

References 72 publications

Attention Control and Attention to Emotional Stimuli in Anxious Children Before and After Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Attention Control and Attention to Emotional Stimuli in Anxious Children Before and After Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

The Role of Emotion and Emotion Regulation in Social Anxiety Disorder

Threat perception predicts cognitive behavioral therapy outcomes in anxious children

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