Children's Complex Neurodevelopmental Disability Service, Children's Neurosciences Centre Newcomen at St Thomas', South Wing, St Thomas' Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, Westminster Bridge Road, London, SE1 7EH, UK.
Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2017 Dec;47(12):3822-3832. doi: 10.1007/s10803-016-2840-3.
Mental imagery has been implicated in anxiety disorders in adults, but has not been investigated in child and adolescent populations. Anxiety is highly prevalent in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and as people with ASD are often thought of as 'visual thinkers', the potential role of distressing imagery in children with ASD merits exploration. Participants aged 8-16 years were grouped as follows: ASD/high anxiety, ASD/low anxiety, non-ASD/high anxiety and non-ASD/low anxiety. Imagery and associated features were assessed using an interview. Group differences were found in number and frequency of images experienced. There were few differences between the groups in the characteristics of the spontaneous images, which included emotional valence, vividness, controllability and realism. Implications for treatment are discussed.
心理意象与成人焦虑障碍有关，但尚未在儿童和青少年人群中进行研究。焦虑在自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）中非常普遍，由于人们通常认为 ASD 患者是“视觉思考者”，因此有必要探讨困扰性意象在 ASD 儿童中的作用。参与者年龄在 8-16 岁之间，分为以下几组：ASD/高焦虑、ASD/低焦虑、非 ASD/高焦虑和非 ASD/低焦虑。使用访谈评估意象和相关特征。研究发现，各组经历的意象数量和频率存在差异。自发意象的特征在组间差异较小，包括情绪效价、生动性、可控性和真实性。讨论了治疗的意义。
