What good are positive emotions for treatment? Trait positive emotionality predicts response to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for anxiety

Abstract

Objective Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is empirically supported for the treatment of anxiety disorders; however, not all individuals achieve recovery following CBT. Positive emotions serve a number of functions that theoretically should facilitate response to CBT – they promote flexible patterns of information processing and assimilation of new information, encourage approach-oriented behavior, and speed physiological recovery from negative emotions. We conducted a secondary analysis of an existing clinical trial dataset to test the a priori hypothesis that individual differences in trait positive emotions would predict CBT response for anxiety. Method Participants meeting diagnostic criteria for panic disorder (n=28) or generalized anxiety disorder (n=31) completed 10 weekly individual CBT sessions. Trait positive emotionality was assessed at pre-treatment, and severity of anxiety symptoms and associated impairment was assessed throughout treatment. Results Participants who reported a greater propensity to experience positive emotions at pre-treatment displayed the largest reduction in anxiety symptoms as well as fewer symptoms following treatment. Positive emotions remained a robust predictor of change in symptoms when controlling for baseline depression severity. Conclusions Initial evidence supports the predictive value of trait positive emotions as a prognostic indicator for CBT outcome in a GAD and PD sample.

Higher- and lower-order personality traits and cluster subtypes in social anxiety disorder

“…Maladaptive personality traits may have a large impact on psychosocial functioning and, hence, the course and expression of psychiatric disorders. Moreover, disorders and traits may share a common etiology [12] and personality traits could be predictive of treatment outcome [13,14]. Deciphering the complex relationships between basic personality traits and SAD is therefore theoretically and clinically important.…”

The role of emotion dysregulation in the association between posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among veterans

“…Screening for positive emotion dysregulation among veterans presenting with PTSD symptoms might aid clinicians in better identifying individuals at high risk for STBs who may benefit from early intervention. Positive emotions (particularly their regulation) are often overlooked in clinical settings and trauma treatments (Contractor et al, 2020), despite emerging research on their role in cognitive‐behavioral treatment response (Taylor et al, 2017). This study adds to work focusing on how maladaptive responses to positive emotions underlie psychopathology (e.g., risky and health‐compromising behaviors; Weiss et al, 2018; Weiss, Schick, et al, 2019), thereby signifying a need for studies that assess the specific role of positive emotion dysregulation in treatment.…”

Brain and Physiological Markers of Autonomic Function Are Associated With Treatment-Related Improvements in Self-Reported Autonomic Dysfunction in Veterans With Gulf War Illness: An Exploratory Pilot Study

“…Given that higher SCL is associated with anxiety 60,61 and lower RMSSD, lower HF-HRV, and higher LF/HF ratio are associated with poorer physical and mental health, 34,[50][51][52] one interpretation of these findings is that poorer pretreatment biological ANS function predicts greater relative treatment response. There is an overall paucity of studies examining pretreatment predictors of response to yoga and extant findings for CBT are mixed: lower symptom severity and more adaptive ANS function pretreatment may be predictive of either better [62][63][64] or worse 65,66 treatment outcome, highlighting the need for further exploration.…”