Distress tolerance and psychopathological symptoms and disorders: A review of the empirical literature among adults.

Abstract

In the present paper, we review theory and empirical study of distress tolerance, an emerging risk factor candidate for various forms of psychopathology. Despite the long-standing interest in, and promise of work on, distress tolerance for understanding adult psychopathology, there has not been a comprehensive review of the extant empirical literature focused on the construct. As a result, a comprehensive synthesis of theoretical and empirical scholarship on distress tolerance including integration of extant research on the relations between distress tolerance and psychopathology is lacking. Inspection of the scientific literature indicates that there are a number of promising ways to conceptualize and measure distress tolerance, as well as documented relations between distress tolerance factor(s) and psychopathological symptoms and disorders. Although promising, there also is notable conceptual and operational heterogeneity across the distress tolerance literature(s). Moreoever, a number of basic questions remain unanswered regarding the associations between distress tolerance and other risk and protective factors and processes, as well as its putative role(s) in vulnerability for, and resilience to, psychopathology. Thus, the current paper provides a comprehensive review of past and contemporary theory and research and proposes key areas for future empirical study of this construct.

Factor structure and psychometric properties of the Dispositional Resilience Scale among Brazilian adult patients

“…Of note, the borderline patients had the lower resilience scores. As expected, such BPD patients performed even worse in a self-reported measure of resilience than the PTSD patients, perhaps because their inner sense of self incoherence causes them to become distress-intolerant individuals 29,30 . Current psychiatric literature provides plenty of studies on resilience and PTSD, and none on resilience and BPD.…”

Perceived control and avoidance in posttraumatic stress

“…In this context, distress tolerance is defined as the ‘perceived capacity to withstand negative emotional and/or other aversive states (e.g. physical discomfort), and the behavioral act of withstanding distressing internal states elicited by some type of stressor’ (Leyro, Zvolensky, & Bernstein, 2010). While suggestive, the existing correlational studies do not examine the function of discrete experiences of perceived control after PTSD onset, or examine putative mechanisms such as distress tolerance or avoidance.…”

Eventos vitais estressores e lesão renal aguda em centros de terapia semi-intensiva e intensiva

“…However, As the Control Group also had participants with other acute conditions, the possible differences as to the exposure to stressful events must have been eased, since literature shows the association between stressful events and other diseases. [22][23][24][25] Participants with high income are more susceptible to stressful events. It is possible to consider that the low income population may not give as much importance to stressful events analyzed in this study, since it is more used to the restrictions imposed by daily life.…”

“…Stress, anxiety and depression can be associated to the onset of diseases, [22][23][24][25] tissue and cell injuries. 26,27 According to some authors, these conditions may lead to renal repercussions, such as the maintenance of high pressure levels 22 and the association with the presence of calculi in the urinary system, 1,28 , among other manifestations.…”