Self-focused attention in clinical disorders: Review and a conceptual model.

Abstract

Working largely independently, numerous investigators have explored the role of self-focused attention in various clinical disorders. This article reviews research examining increased self-focused attention in these disorders. Results indicate that regardless of the particular disorder under investigation, a heightened degree of self-focused attention is found. Hence, as ordinarily conceptualized, self-focused attention has little discriminatory power among different psychological disorders. Using information processing constructs, a somewhat different model of self-focused attention is proposed, and it is suggested that certain deviations in this process constitute a psychopathological kind of attention. A meta-construct model of descriptive psychopathology is then outlined to examine how certain aspects of attention can be considered specific to certain disorders and others common to different disorders.

Assessing Decentering: Validation, Psychometric Properties, and Clinical Usefulness of the Experiences Questionnaire in a Spanish Sample

“…cocaine dependence, eating disorders and borderline personality disorder) and not exclusively MDD, as reported by Teasdale and colleagues (Teasdale et al, 2002;Fresco et al, 2007a). Such low scores may be indicative of poor decentering as a transdiagnostic vulnerability factor, similarly to self-focused attention that could be shared among mental disorders (Ingram, 1990). Altogether, this conceptualization of decentering as a necessary capability for a healthy cognitive, psychological and social functioning.…”

“…Higher decentering scores observed in CBT responders but not in antidepressant medication responders may indicate that such capability is not only mediated by clinical improvement, as it normally happens with other psychological vulnerability markers (i.e. dysfunctional attitudes or attributional styles; Ingram (1990) for a revision). It is reasonable to think that improvements in decentering may be specific to psychotherapy.…”

Depressive deficits in memory: Focusing attention improves subsequent recall.

“…Similarly, Kuhl and Helle (1986) fo uad evidence that depressed subjects prolong attention to goals that are not immediately relevant. Difficulties in inhibiting irrelevant thoughts are proposed by several accounts of depression, but most of them emphasize distractions associ ated with self-focus and mood state (see reviews by Ingram, 1990, andWilliams et al, 1988). Emphas izing a more general di fficulty in inhibition is perhaps a more parsimonious ap proach to understanding depress ive difficulties.…”

“…The rationale for this prediction rests on the well-documented tendency for depressed people to show chronic levels of self-focused attention or otherwise to focus on task-irrelevant matters (see Ingram, 1990). As Hasher and Zacks (1988) proposed for elderly samples, irrelevant focus disrupts task-appropriate processi ng and enhances competi tion during retrieval.…”

Propiedades psicométricas de la versión española de la Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale

“…Aunque se ha argumentado que ambos factores (el de atención/conciencia y el de aceptación) podrían presentar cierto solapamiento a nivel conceptual 11,15 también parece razonable que ambos aspectos estén diferenciados 13 . En este sentido existen ejemplos claros donde una elevada conciencia y focalización no van acompañadas de una actitud de aceptación, como es el caso de trastornos de ansiedad, depresión o conductas adictivas 16 .…”