San Diego State University/University of California, San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego, California, USA.
Depress Anxiety. 2012 Mar;29(3):219-25. doi: 10.1002/da.20912. Epub 2011 Dec 13.
Engaging in thought suppression as a coping mechanism has been associated with higher rates of anxiety and depressive disorders in younger adults. Homebound older adults are a population of elders experiencing poor health and high levels of depression and anxiety. It is unclear the extent to which psychological factors, such as thought suppression, are associated with distress, given that their health and disability status may be more salient. The aim of this study was to investigate thought suppression in relation to anxiety and depressive symptoms in homebound older adults.
Participants (N = 142) were clients of home-based case management services delivered by aging service agencies in Florida. Participants were administered a research interview that included the White Bear Suppression Inventory, Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Diagnosis (SCID), Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18), and Modified Mini-Mental Status Examination (3MS). Case managers provided standard assessments containing functional and health status of the participant.
After controlling for physical health and cognitive functioning, thought suppression was significantly associated with higher likelihood of clinically significant somatic, depressive, and anxiety symptoms on the BSI-18. Thought suppression was also associated with meeting criteria for a SCID depressive or adjustment disorder. Engaging in thought suppression was associated with worse mental health in this sample of homebound older adults even after taking into account physical health, disability, and cognitive functioning.
These findings suggest the need to develop and test interventions that may address thought suppression as a coping mechanism.
作为一种应对机制，进行思维抑制与年轻人焦虑和抑郁障碍的发生率较高有关。居家的老年人是一个健康状况不佳、抑郁和焦虑程度较高的老年人群体。由于他们的健康和残疾状况可能更为突出，因此尚不清楚心理因素（如思维抑制）与痛苦之间的关联程度。本研究旨在调查居家老年人的思维抑制与焦虑和抑郁症状之间的关系。
参与者（N=142）是佛罗里达州老年服务机构提供的家庭为基础的个案管理服务的客户。参与者接受了一项研究访谈，其中包括白熊抑制量表、DSM-IV 诊断的结构化临床访谈（SCID）、简短症状量表-18（BSI-18）和改良的迷你精神状态检查（3MS）。个案经理提供了包含参与者功能和健康状况的标准评估。
在控制身体健康和认知功能后，思维抑制与 BSI-18 上更高的躯体、抑郁和焦虑症状的临床显著可能性显著相关。思维抑制也与 SCID 抑郁或适应障碍的标准相关。即使考虑到身体健康、残疾和认知功能，在这个居家老年人样本中，进行思维抑制与更差的心理健康相关。
这些发现表明需要开发和测试可能解决思维抑制作为应对机制的干预措施。
