Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904‐4400, USA.
Clin Psychol Rev. 2012 Aug;32(6):575-603. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2012.06.004. Epub 2012 Jul 4.
In this paper we examine the nature of automatic cognitive processing in anxiety disorders and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Rather than viewing automaticity as a unitary construct, we follow a social cognition perspective (Bargh, 1994) that argues for four theoretically independent features of automaticity: unconscious (processing of emotional stimuli occurs outside awareness), efficient (processing emotional meaning uses minimal attentional resources), unintentional (no goal is needed to engage in processing emotional meaning), and uncontrollable (limited ability to avoid, alter or terminate processing emotional stimuli). Our review of the literature suggests that most anxiety disorders are characterized by uncontrollable, and likely also unconscious and unintentional, biased processing of threat-relevant information. In contrast, MDD is most clearly typified by uncontrollable, but not unconscious or unintentional, processing of negative information. For the anxiety disorders and for MDD, there is no sufficient evidence to draw firm conclusions about efficiency of processing, though early indications are that neither anxiety disorders nor MDD are characterized by this feature. Clinical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed and directions for future research are offered. In particular, it is clear that paradigms that more directly delineate the different features of automaticity are required to gain a more comprehensive and systematic understanding of the importance of automatic processing in emotion dysregulation.
本文探讨了焦虑障碍和重度抑郁症（MDD）中自动认知加工的本质。我们没有将自动性视为一个单一的概念，而是遵循社会认知观点（Bargh，1994），该观点认为自动性具有四个理论上独立的特征：无意识（情绪刺激的处理发生在意识之外）、高效（处理情绪意义使用最少的注意力资源）、无意（无需目标即可参与处理情绪意义）和不可控（有限的能力来避免、改变或终止处理情绪刺激）。我们对文献的回顾表明，大多数焦虑障碍的特点是对威胁相关信息的不可控、可能还有无意识和无意的偏见处理。相比之下，MDD 的特点是对负性信息的不可控处理，但不是无意识或无意的。对于焦虑障碍和 MDD，没有足够的证据可以得出关于处理效率的明确结论，尽管早期迹象表明，焦虑障碍和 MDD 都没有这个特征。讨论了这些发现的临床和理论意义，并提出了未来研究的方向。特别是，很明显，需要更直接地描绘自动性不同特征的范式，以更全面和系统地理解自动处理在情绪失调中的重要性。
