O'Toole Mia Skytte, Watson Lynn A, Rosenberg Nicole K, Berntsen Dorthe
Department of Psychology, Center on Autobiographical Memory Research, Aarhus University, Denmark.
Department of Psychology, Center on Autobiographical Memory Research, Aarhus University, Denmark.
J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2016 Mar;50:223-30. doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2015.09.008. Epub 2015 Sep 15.
Empirical interest in mental imagery in social anxiety disorder (SAD) has grown over the past years but still little is known about the specificity to SAD. The present study therefore examines negative autobiographical memories in participants with social anxiety disorder (SAD), compared to patients with panic disorder (PD), and healthy controls (HCs).
A total of 107 participants retrieved four memories cued by verbal phrases associated with either social anxiety (SA) or panic anxiety (PA), with two memories for each cue category.
PA-cued memories were experienced with stronger imagery and as more traumatic. They were also rated as more central to identity than SA-cued memories, but not among participants with SAD, who perceived SA-cued memories as equally central to their identity. When between-group effects were detected, participants with anxiety disorders differed from HCs, but not from each other.
Central limitations include reliance on self-report measures, comorbidity in the anxiety disorder groups, and lack of a neutrally cued memory comparison.
The findings align with models of SAD suggesting that past negative social events play a central role in this disorder. Future research is suggested to further explore the function of negative memories, not only in SAD, but also in other anxiety disorders.
在过去几年中，对社交焦虑障碍（SAD）中心理意象的实证研究兴趣有所增加，但对SAD的特异性仍知之甚少。因此，本研究将社交焦虑障碍（SAD）患者与惊恐障碍（PD）患者及健康对照者（HCs）进行比较，考察他们的负面自传体记忆。
共有107名参与者回忆了由与社交焦虑（SA）或惊恐焦虑（PA）相关的语言短语提示的四段记忆，每个提示类别有两段记忆。
PA提示的记忆具有更强的意象，且被认为更具创伤性。与SA提示的记忆相比，它们也被认为对身份认同更重要，但在SAD患者中并非如此，他们认为SA提示的记忆对其身份认同同样重要。当检测到组间效应时，焦虑症患者与健康对照者不同，但彼此之间无差异。
主要局限性包括依赖自我报告测量、焦虑症组存在共病情况以及缺乏中性提示记忆比较。
研究结果与SAD模型一致，表明过去的负面社交事件在该障碍中起核心作用。建议未来研究进一步探讨负面记忆的功能，不仅在SAD中，也在其他焦虑症中。
