Schneider Raimund, Schulte Dietmar
Department of Clinical Psychology, Fakultät für Psychologie, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
Behav Res Ther. 2008 May;46(5):557-72. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2008.01.015. Epub 2008 Feb 1.
The aim of the present study was to elucidate one of the factors that might be responsible for the maintenance of panic patients' harmful beliefs about anxiety. Specifically, it was hypothesized that harmful beliefs about anxiety, i.e. anxiety sensitivity, is maintained in panic patients by automatic activation of idiographic catastrophic cognitions. To test this prediction, panic patients participated in a one-session cognitive-behavioural treatment of 4-8h to reduce anxiety sensitivity. The strength of automatic catastrophic cognitions in response to idiographic anxiety symptoms, measured with a modified semantic priming task, as well as the strength of the consciously accessible catastrophic meaning of these symptoms were assessed before treatment. In accordance with the hypothesis, stronger automatic catastrophic cognitions predicted a smaller reduction of anxiety sensitivity independently of the strength of conscious catastrophic cognitions. Moreover, in a first exploration, the strength of catastrophic associations was also shown to have an incremental predictive value for change in anxiety sensitivity beyond that of a number of demographic, clinical, treatment and assessment variables. The theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.
本研究的目的是阐明可能导致惊恐障碍患者维持对焦虑有害信念的因素之一。具体而言，研究假设惊恐障碍患者对焦虑的有害信念，即焦虑敏感性，是通过个性化灾难性认知的自动激活来维持的。为了验证这一预测，惊恐障碍患者参加了一次时长为4 - 8小时的认知行为治疗，以降低焦虑敏感性。在治疗前，使用改良的语义启动任务测量了对个性化焦虑症状的自动灾难性认知强度，以及这些症状在意识层面可及的灾难性意义强度。与假设一致，更强的自动灾难性认知预示着焦虑敏感性降低幅度更小，且与意识层面灾难性认知的强度无关。此外，在首次探索中，灾难性联想的强度在预测焦虑敏感性变化方面，除了一些人口统计学、临床、治疗和评估变量之外，还具有额外的预测价值。文中讨论了其理论和临床意义。
