Psychophysiological correlates of chronic worry: Cued versus non-cued fear reaction

Delgado, Luisa E.; Guerra, Pedro; Perakakis, Pandelis; Mata, José Luís; Pérez, María José Cano; Vila, Jaime

doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2009.10.007

Cited by 39 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 52 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This suggests that worrying about relapse is distressing to most parents, yet parents may adapt psychologically to the reality of relapse when it actually happens. Although surprising, this finding fits with psychological and neurobiological models that identify uncertainty and anticipation as key contributors to anxiety . Chronic worry itself is considered a state of anticipatory anxiety .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 72%

“…Although surprising, this finding fits with psychological and neurobiological models that identify uncertainty and anticipation as key contributors to anxiety. 19,20 Chronic worry itself is considered a state of anticipatory anxiety. 20 Clinicians should be aware of how burdensome continuing uncertainty can be for parents of children with cancer.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…19,20 Chronic worry itself is considered a state of anticipatory anxiety. 20 Clinicians should be aware of how burdensome continuing uncertainty can be for parents of children with cancer. This worry about relapse persisted despite the fact that most relapses would have occurred by five years after treatment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Persistently low peace of mind in parents of cancer patients: A five‐year follow‐up study

Sisk

Weng

Mack

2019

Pediatric Blood & Cancer

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Pediatric cancer affects the well‐being of the entire family. Previously, our group found that 76% of parents experience low peace of mind after diagnosis. Herein, we present a five‐year follow‐up study of these same parents, aiming to determine whether low peace of mind persisted, and what baseline variables associate with persistently low peace of mind. Procedure Cross‐sectional survey of parents of children with cancer between April 2004 and September 2005 within one year of diagnosis, and a follow‐up questionnaire administered at least five years later. Results Sixty‐six percent of parents whose children were living and who were able to be contacted completed follow‐up questionnaires (91/138). Of these parents, 77% (70/91) were parents of disease‐free survivors and 23% (21/91) had recurrent disease. The majority of parents (66%, 53/88) had low peace of mind five years after diagnosis, regardless of relapse status or prognosis. Additionally, 28% of parents of disease‐free survivors reported being very/extremely worried about relapse (18/66), late toxicities (19/66), and late effects (19/66). Each worry was associated with low peace of mind (OR between 9.66 and 20.09 for each worry). In bivariable logistic regression, low peace of mind at five years was negatively associated with trusting the physician completely at baseline, with and without adjustment for relapse status (OR, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.12 to 0.87, P = 0.032, adjusted for relapse). Conclusion Most long‐term studies and interventions have focused on parental bereavement. Our findings show that most parents are changed by pediatric cancer, even when children survive and the future is bright.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 72%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Persistently low peace of mind in parents of cancer patients: A five‐year follow‐up study

Sisk

Weng

Mack

2019

Pediatric Blood & Cancer

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Clinical theorists have hypothesized that anticipatory coping mechanisms like the one described here might be ineffective for highly anxious or fearful individuals (e.g., Baas, 2013; Delgado, Guerra, Perakakis, Mata, Perez, & Vila, 2009). Consistent with this hypothesis, a prior study found that men reporting very high fear of snakes continued to show startle enhancement when viewing pictures of snakes even when these pictures were reliably cued (Sabatinelli, Bradley, & Lang, 2001).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Prediction and perception: Defensive startle modulation

2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Previous research indicates that predictive cues can dampen subsequent defensive reactions. The present study investigated whether effects of cuing are specific to aversive stimuli, using modulation of the blink startle reflex as a measure of emotional reactivity. Participants viewed pictures depicting violence, romance/ erotica, or mundane content. On half of all trials, a cue (color) predicted the content of the upcoming picture; on the remaining trials, scenes were presented without a cue. Acoustic startle probes were presented during picture viewing on trials with predictive cues and trials without a cue. Replicating previous studies, blink reflexes elicited when viewing violent pictures that had not been preceded by a cue were potentiated compared to un-cued mundane scenes, and reflexes were attenuated when viewing scenes of erotica/ romance that had not been cued. On the other hand, reflex potentiation when viewing scenes of violence (relative to mundane scenes) was eliminated when these pictures were preceded by a predictive cue, whereas scenes of romance prompted reliable reflex attenuation regardless of whether pictures were cued or not. Taken together, the data suggest that cuing elicits an anticipatory coping process that is specific to aversive stimuli.

show abstract

“…The use of self-report measures to screen large groups of prospective participants for a desired quality or personality trait is common practice in the social sciences and has been used in several studies designed to better understand the nature and function of worry (Delgado, et al, 2009;Ruscio & Borkovec, 2004). However, it is it is not always clear whether study eligibility was determined based on a single assessment of worry/ anxiety or if these questionnaires were readministered in order to ensure stability of the desired trait over time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Where Have All the Worriers Gone? Temporal Instability of the Abbreviated Penn State Worry Questionnaire Limits Reliable Screening for High Trait Worry

Spence¹,

Blumenthal²,

Brenes³

2012

PSYCH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Participant selection is an important step in research on individual differences. If detecting an effect of a personality variable is predicated on the use of extreme groups, then mistakenly including participants who are not in the extremes may weaken the ability to see an effect. In this study, changes in trait worry were evaluated in 68 undergraduate students reporting low or high levels of worry. Participants completed the abbreviated Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ-A) three times: 1) at the beginning of the semester; 2) 3 -13 weeks later; and 3) 1 hr later, following a psychophysiological assessment session. Test-retest reliability across the three administrations was high, but almost half of the sample no longer met the pre-defined criteria for classification as low or high worriers at the second administration. That is, scores were reliable, but not stable, across time. Instability of self-report worry was significantly greater for high worriers than for low worriers, and this effect was predicted by trait anxiety at the beginning of the semester. These findings suggest that the PSWQ-A is sensitive to factors other than trait worry, which may result in dilution of effects when participants are selected for extreme worry scores. This also suggests that screening participants weeks before the actual study should be supplemented by readministration of the screening questionnaire, to identify participants who no longer meet criteria for inclusion.

show abstract

Psychophysiological correlates of chronic worry: Cued versus non-cued fear reaction

Cited by 39 publications

References 52 publications

Persistently low peace of mind in parents of cancer patients: A five‐year follow‐up study

Persistently low peace of mind in parents of cancer patients: A five‐year follow‐up study

Prediction and perception: Defensive startle modulation

Where Have All the Worriers Gone? Temporal Instability of the Abbreviated Penn State Worry Questionnaire Limits Reliable Screening for High Trait Worry

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About