EFFECTS OF MINDFULNESS AND EXPERIENTIAL AVOIDANCE IN RESPONDING TO EMOTIONAL FILM CLIPS

This study examined if levels of self-reported mindfulness and experiential avoidance were associated with subjective and physiological outcomes following exposure to distressing film clips. Participants consisted of 108 college-aged young adults who completed self-report measures assessing levels of mindfulness, experiential avoidance, and negative affect. Several devices designed to monitor physiological activity, specifically sympathetic nervous activation, were also attached to participants. Participants were shown four brief film clips of neutral and unpleasant stimuli while these devices were attached. After each film, subjective distress ratings were gathered every 20 seconds for a period of two minutes to determine extent of emotional recovery. Results showed that, contrary to predictions, self-reported mindfulness was positively correlated with subjective distress following particular emotional film clips. Furthermore, self-reported mindfulness was largely unrelated to changes in physiological activity during the film clips, in addition to subjective and physiological recovery from the films. Although most findings were nonsignificant, this investigation contributes to the existing literature by being the first to include a measure of self-report mindfulness in combination with an array of subjective and physiological instruments to evaluate responses to aversive stimuli

Peritraumatic Reactions and Intrusive Memories among Disaster Survivors: A Mixed Methods Investigation

Intrusive memories represent a hallmark symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Cognitive theories of PTSD hypothesize that intrusive memories result from disruptions in information processing during traumatic memory encoding. The affective, cognitive, and behavioural reactions taking place during trauma have been termed peritraumatic reactions. These include reactions such as peritraumatic dissociation and tonic immobility. Experimental evidence has supported the theoretical claims concerning the role of peritraumatic reactions in the development of intrusive memories. This literature, however, presents a number of limitations. First, it relies on a conceptualisation of peritraumatic reactions based largely on quantitative measures with a large degree of conceptual overlap. Secondly, the identification of peritraumatic reactions has relied on clinical expertise, theory, and animal models, rather than on systematic investigations of survivors’ lived experience. Finally, studies on peritraumatic reactions and intrusive memories, have generally assessed peritraumatic reactions for the entire trauma rather than for the specific moments experienced as intrusive memories. This thesis set out to address these limitations. Firstly, I investigated the factorial structure of the six most widely used peritraumatic measures. This led to the identification of a psychometrically validated model comprising five distinct peritraumatic reactions. Secondly, I explored using a largely inductive analytical framework the lived experienced of peritraumatic reactions spontaneously reported in interviews. Finally, building on these findings, I confirmed the theory-informed claims that the specific moments of a trauma experienced as intrusive memories would be characterised by higher levels of peritraumatic reactions compared to moments from the same trauma that did not intrude. All research was conducted among earthquake survivors. The current findings hold various implications for the conceptualisation of peritraumatic reactions and intrusive memories. Additionally, they have a number of practical implications for the prevention and management of intrusive memories as well as for the wellbeing of disaster survivors more generally

The dilemma of trauma-focused therapy: effects of imagery rescripting on voluntary memory

Trauma-focused imagery-based interventions are suspected to alter or even distort declarative voluntary memory of a traumatic event, especially if they involve the active modification of imagery, e.g., as used in imagery rescripting (ImRs). However, systematic research is lacking so far. To investigate whether ImRs modifies voluntary memory of a standardized autobiographical aversive event (Trier Social Stress Test) (Session 1), healthy participants (N = 100) were randomly assigned to either an intervention condition receiving one session of ImRs or to a no-intervention control condition (NIC) (Session 2). Voluntary memory was examined using a free recall (Sessions 2 and 3) and a cued recall (Sessions 3 and 4). Although voluntary memory tended to deteriorate over time, contrary to expectations, this effect was not associated with ImRs. Remarkably, the number of correct details in free recall even improved in ImRs but not in NIC. This challenges the view that ImRs alters voluntary memory

Attentional and Emotional Consequences of Emotional Acceptance and Suppression in an Elevated Anxiety Sample

Acceptance-based strategies have been incorporated into behavioral therapies for anxiety and other disorders (e.g., Roemer & Orsillo, 2009). Experimental literature is in need of better, more nuances assessment of the consequences of acceptance (Kohl, Rief & Glombiewski, 2012). Therefore, this study specifically examined the way in which acceptance can increase attentional flexibility and recovery from stress, which are important factors in the maintenance of anxiety disorders (Cisler & Koster, 2010). This experimental study compared acceptance and suppression of emotional experiences, following exposure to fearful stimuli (i.e., images and film clip), to a control condition. Results indicated that there was no significant relation between dimensional self-ratings of trait and state emotion regulation ability, trait acceptance, disengagement from viewing distressing images, and recovery from distress. Experimental analyses revealed that no emotion regulation strategy- acceptance or suppression- allowed individuals to disengage and recover from the negative images significantly more quickly. Also no emotion regulation strategy led to significantly lower levels of self-reported negative affect and higher willingness to view more distressing images. However, nonsignificant trends of medium to large effect sizes emerged, with unexpected correlational findings suggesting that trait levels of experiential avoidance and emotion regulation difficulties were associated with the ability to disengage from images, while acceptance instructions may have facilitated disengagement following the task. There were several limitations to this study. First the sample size was small limiting the ability to detect effects of the independent variable (i.e., emotion regulation instructions). Also randomization was not successful and the conditions were imbalanced on several key variables. Lastly the mood induction was not successful in inducing fear in this sample, therefore limiting the ability to comment on participants’ reaction to distress and recovery from distress. Given that there were several limitations to this study, it is important for future research to make the study alterations recommended and conduct further research on this topic

Emotion Regulation and Threat Estimation as Mediators of the Relation between Cognitive Functioning and Anxiety in Late Life

Background: Rates of anxiety are generally thought to decline in typically aging older adults. Some theorize that this decline is a result of age-related improvements in emotion regulation. Emotion regulation may require the use of complex cognitive processes, however, which can be impacted by cognitive decline. Indeed, the prevalence of anxiety is high among older adults with cognitive impairment. The current study examined emotion regulation and threat perception as possible mediators in the relation between cognitive functioning and anxiety.;Methods: One hundred adults, aged 60 and older, were recruited from nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and the community. All were asked to complete a cognitive screening measure, along with measures of anxiety, emotion regulation, and threat perception. The relation between these variables was examined.;Results: Though cognitive impairment predicted anxiety level, neither emotion regulation nor threat perception mediated the relation.;Conclusions: The data suggest that emotion regulation and threat perception may rely on automatic processing, rather than effortful cognitive processing

The Relationship Between Personal Characteristics and Entertainment Preferences

The present study addressed the paradox of the popularity of horror movies. These movies elicit negative emotions of fear and anxiety, yet horror continues to be a one of the most popular film genres. Personal characteristics have been found to influence individual’s reactions to anxiety-inducing stimuli, such as horror movies. 43 participants completed a questionnaire that measured trait anxiety, emotional regulation, empathy, sensation seeking and film preferences. Personal characteristics were compared among groups of participants with high, moderate, and low preferences for horror movies. Participants with a high preference for horror movies had significantly higher trait anxiety scores. These results suggest there is a relationship between the personal characteristic of anxiety and entertainment preferences

Examining Potential Mechanisms for Increasing Emotional Willingness

Research has demonstrated that women who have experienced a rape are at an increased risk for developing subsequent psychological and behavioral consequences (e.g., mood disturbances, anxiety symptoms, substance abuse). More recently, it has been suggested that an unwillingness to experience negative emotions may contribute to these adverse consequences. One proposed strategy for increasing emotional willingness, and thereby decreasing these psychological and behavioral consequences, is to increase acceptance of one's emotional experiences. This investigation examined whether an experimental manipulation designed to increase emotional acceptance resulted in greater emotional willingness among rape survivors. Participants consisted of 38 women who experienced a rape since the age of 18. Participants were assigned to one of three conditions (acceptance, distraction, time control) and instructed to practice the skills provided during the session and record their experiences for a week. At the end of this week, participants' emotional willingness and ability to engage in functional behaviors when distressed were assessed by a trauma-relevant, distressing behavioral task. Participants also completed a self-report measure to assess for emotional willingness. Although group conditions did not differ in emotional willingness as assessed by the behavioral task, the acceptance and the time control conditions reported significantly greater increase in emotional willingness as compared to the distraction condition. Furthermore, findings suggested that differences in emotional willingness may be partially mediated by self-report non-reactivity to emotional experiences for the acceptance condition. Time control condition demonstrated decreased ability to engage in a goal-directed behavior when distressed whereas the acceptance and distraction condition did not. Finally, results suggest that distraction skills may be perceived as less tolerable based on greater non-completer rates and lower rated agreement with provided skills as compared to acceptance skills. Implications and future directions are further discussed

Returning to Presence: The Effects of Mindfulness on Emotion Regulation Following Worry among Individuals with Analogue Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Ways to reduce the impact of worry in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) have received little experimental research attention. Previous research has found that those with GAD are vulnerable to negative emotionality immediately following periods of worry; emotion regulation strategies could be useful to mitigate reactivity following worry. One promising strategy is mindfulness, defined as sustained attention toward the present moment with an attitude of curiosity and acceptance. Experimental research has found that mindfulness reduces negative affect and improves emotion regulation. This strategy is likely more effective than thought suppression, a common strategy used in GAD. This online study recruited 300 individuals with analogue GAD who completed several self-report measures of worry severity, emotion dysregulation, mindfulness, and experiential avoidance and underwent experimental inductions of worry (versus no-worry control) and regulation strategy (mindfulness versus thought suppression versus no-strategy control) before watching a sad film clip and reporting state affect and emotion dysregulation. Contrary to hypotheses, the mindfulness manipulation did not have a buffering effect on the relation between worry and negative affect or emotion dysregulation. The only predicted significant finding indicated that the mindfulness manipulation had a main effect on negative affect, with visual trends indicating that this effect was driven by those who did not worry. An exploratory analysis indicated that a mindfulness manipulation increased positive affect following worry, however. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed

Endogenous oxytocin response to film scenes of attachment and loss is pronounced in schizophrenia

Oxytocin (OXT) is critically involved in the regulation of attachment and interpersonal function. In this study, emotional childrens movies were used to stimulate OXT secretion in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls (HCs). Furthermore, associations of OXT levels with measures of attachment style (Psychosis Attachment Measure), childhood adversity (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire) and symptom severity [Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS)] were considered. In 35 patients with schizophrenia and 35 matched HCs, radioimmunoassay with sample extraction was used to determine OXT plasma levels before and after viewing of movie scenes portraying emotional bonding and loss and compared to a non-emotional condition. Statistical analysis indicated lower baseline OXT levels in female patients than in all other groups. OXT reactivity during emotional movies was significantly higher in patients when compared to HCs. OXT reactivity during the control movie related to PANSS `general psychopathology. No significant associations appeared between baseline or induced OXT levels and other PANSS subscales, attachment style or childhood adversity in patients. Our findings suggest differences of baseline OXT and a higher OXT reactivity toward strong emotional stimuli in patients with schizophrenia, suggesting a role of OXT as a gender- and context-dependent modulator of socio-emotional function