Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry最新文献

{"title":"Beliefs about losing control and other OCD-related cognitions: An experimental investigation","authors":"Andrea Sandstrom,&nbsp;Adam S. Radomsky","doi":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101919","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101919","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and objectives</h3><p>Cognitive theories of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) suggest that dysfunctional beliefs influence symptoms. However, well-established belief domains do not fully explain OCD symptomatology, suggesting other cognitive mechanisms may be involved. An additional belief domain which may play a role in OCD is beliefs about losing control. Indeed, these beliefs have been found to be associated with OCD symptoms. However, the relationships between beliefs about losing control and other OCD phenomena, including other relevant dysfunctional beliefs, is unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between beliefs about losing control and appraisals hypothesized to be relevant to OCD.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>A total of 163 participants completed the experimental protocol, wherein they received false (positive or negative) feedback regarding the likelihood they may lose control and completed a vignette task asking them to read hypothetical scenarios relevant to OCD concerns (checking, and aggressive thoughts). Vignettes were followed by questions and prompts used to measure OCD-relevant appraisals.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Based on MANOVAs, beliefs about losing control had a significant impact on appraisals in the checking, <em>F</em> (151) = 5.55, <em>p</em> = .001, and aggressive thoughts, <em>F</em> (151) = 2.898, <em>p</em> = .037, vignettes. However, planned comparison indicated that in the aggressive thoughts vignettes, this effect was in the opposite direction than was hypothesized.</p></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><p>The losing control induction may have inadvertently influenced participants’ beliefs about the utility of thought control.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Findings provide preliminary evidence for an association between beliefs about losing control and OCD-relevant appraisals.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 101919"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72211288","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The effectiveness of two novel approaches to prevent intrusions: A pilot study comparing Tetris_dualtask and imagery rescripting to control","authors":"Joost Asselbergs ,&nbsp;Heleen Riper ,&nbsp;Iris M. Engelhard ,&nbsp;Fancy Mannes ,&nbsp;Marit Sijbrandij","doi":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101920","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101920","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and objectives</h3><p>Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a global health problem. Although effective treatments for it exist, early interventions that prevent PTSD from developing are lacking. The aim of this pilot analogue trauma study was to compare the effects of two potential early intervention strategies, namely Tetris_dualtask and imagery rescripting (IR) to a no-intervention control group on intrusion frequency and the vividness and emotionality of aversive film memory.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>Sixty healthy students were subjected to the trauma film paradigm and randomly allocated to either: Tetris_dualtask, IR or no-intervention. Main outcomes were the number of film-related intrusions at one week and vividness and emotionality ratings of the most aversive film memory. Secondary outcomes were PTSD-like symptoms, intrusion intensity, and explicit film memory.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>The Tetris_dualtask group reported significant fewer intrusions compared to the no-intervention group; whereas the IR group did not. No effect was found on vividness and emotionality ratings, PTSD-like symptoms, intrusion intensity, and explicit memory.</p></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><p>The sample size was small, and analogue trauma in healthy individuals was examined, thus generalizability may be limited. Also, to increase comparability between interventions, the duration of Tetris_dualtask and IR was standardized. As a result, the IR intervention was shorter compared to other studies, which might have decreased its efficacy.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>The results of this pilot study suggest that playing Tetris during retrieval of traumatic images, might hold potential as an early intervention strategy to reduce intrusions in the early aftermath of trauma and adversity. However, future large-scale replication research is needed.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 101920"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0005791623000873/pdfft?md5=2e91945a49355340e51e824ecb91ed3b&pid=1-s2.0-S0005791623000873-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135370243","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An investigation of the potential clinical utility of critical slowing down as an early warning sign for recurrence of depression","authors":"Natasha A. Tonge ,&nbsp;J. Philip Miller ,&nbsp;Evan D. Kharasch ,&nbsp;Eric J. Lenze ,&nbsp;Thomas L. Rodebaugh","doi":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101922","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101922","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and objectives</h3><p>Much of the burden of depressive illness is due to relapses that occur after treatment into remission. Prediction of an individual's imminent depressive relapse could lead to just-in-time interventions to prevent relapse, reducing depression's substantial burden of disability, costs, and suicide risk. Increasingly strong relationships in the form of autocorrelations between depressive symptoms, a signal of a phenomenon described as <em>critical slowing down</em> (CSD), have been proposed as a means of predicting relapse.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>In the current study, four participants in remission from depression, one of whom relapsed, responded to daily smartphone surveys with depression symptoms. We used p-technique factor analysis to identify depression factors from over 100 survey responses. We then tested for the presence of CSD using time-varying vector autoregression and detrended fluctuation analysis.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>We found evidence that CSD provided an early warning sign for depression in the participant who relapsed, but we also detected false positive indications of CSD in participants who did not relapse. Results from time-varying vector autoregression and detrended fluctuation analysis were not in agreement.</p></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><p>Limitations include use of secondary data and a small number of participants with daily responding to a subset of depression symptoms.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>CSD provides a compelling framework for predicting depressive relapse and future research should focus on improving detection of early warning signs reliably. Improving early detection methods for depression is clinically significant, as it would allow for the development of just-in-time interventions.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 101922"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-10-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91963759","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reliability (or lack thereof) of smartphone ecological momentary assessment of visual dot probe attention bias toward threat indices","authors":"Nur Hani Zainal ,&nbsp;Nicholas C. Jacobson","doi":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101918","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101918","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and objectives</h3><p><span><span>Cognitive bias theories posit that generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and </span>social anxiety disorder (SAD) are entwined with attention bias toward threats, commonly indexed by faster response time (RT) on threat-congruent (vs. threat-incongruent) trials on the visual dot probe. Moreover, although smartphone </span>ecological momentary assessment<span> (EMA) of the visual dot probe has been developed, their psychometric properties are understudied. This study thus aimed to assess the reliability of 8 smartphone-delivered visual dot probe attention bias and related indices in persons with and without GAD and SAD.</span></p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>Community-dwelling adults (<em>n</em> = 819; GAD: 64%; SAD: 49%; Mixed GAD and SAD: 37%; Non-GAD/SAD Controls: 24%) completed a five-trial smartphone-delivered visual dot probe for a median of 60 trials (12 sessions x 5 trials/session) and an average of 100 trials (20 sessions x 5 trials/session).</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>As hypothesized, Global Attention Bias Index, Disengagement Effect, and Facilitation Bias had low-reliability estimates. However, retest-reliability and internal reliability were good for Trial-Level Bias Scores (TLBS) (Bias Toward Treat: intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) = 0.626–0.644; split-half <em>r</em> = 0.640–0.670; Attention Bias Variability: ICCs = 0.507–0.567; split-half <em>r</em> = 0.520–0.580) and (In)congruent RTs. Poor retest-reliability and internal reliability estimates were consistently observed for all traditional attention bias and related indices but not TLBS.</p></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><p>Our visual dot probe EMA should have administered ≥320 trials to match best-practice guidelines based on similar laboratory studies.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Future research should strive to examine attention bias paradigms beyond the dot-probe task that evidenced meaningful test-retest reliability properties in laboratory and real-world naturalistic settings.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 101918"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71428011","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Virtual reality exposure with vibrotactile stimulation for the treatment of fear of flying: A pilot study","authors":"J.M. Ribé-Viñes ,&nbsp;J. Gutiérrez-Maldonado ,&nbsp;Zahra Zabolipour ,&nbsp;M. Ferrer-Garcia","doi":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101915","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101915","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and objectives</h3><p>Virtual reality (VR) interventions are becoming more prevalent in treating fear of flying (FoF). Since multisensory stimulation can enhance the sense of presence in a virtual environment, the present study compared virtual reality exposure with and without vibrotactile cues to determine its contribution to the realism of the virtual experience.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>A repeated measures design was used. Thirty-one participants were exposed to two experimental conditions with a minimum of a one-week interval between them: one in which participants were exposed to the virtual environment with vibrotactile cues (smart chair, SC), and another in which participants were exposed to the virtual environment without vibrotactile cues (ordinary chair, OC). The administration order of both conditions was counterbalanced to avoid possible order effects.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Participants felt higher levels of sense of presence when using the SC than the OC. However, the addition of vibrotactile stimulation partially influenced experienced anxiety. Some personality traits were also associated with participants’ sense of presence and anxiety responses during the exposure.</p></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><p>The sample size was smaller than required. Moreover, only self-reported measures were used. Finally, a roller coaster instead of an airplane scenario was used for the exposure, which might not have been suitable enough for provoking anxiety in participants with FoF.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Vibrotactile cues enhanced the sense of presence. However, the addition of vibrotactile stimulation did not have a consistent effect on anxiety experienced during exposure. Therefore, the benefits of incorporating vibrotactile cues in virtual reality environments for exposure therapy are not clear.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 101915"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49683679","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The effectiveness of cognitive bias modification in reducing substance use in detained juveniles: An RCT","authors":"Hans S. van der Baan ,&nbsp;dr Annematt L. Collot D'Escury-Koenigs ,&nbsp;dr Reinout W. Wiers","doi":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101916","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101916","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and objective</h3><p>Young offenders show high levels of substance use. Treatment programs within detention settings are less effective. Cognitive bias modification (CBM) is a promising supplement to substance use treatment. This study tests the effectiveness of CBM in young offenders to reduce cannabis and alcohol use, and delinquent recidivism.</p></div><div><h3>Method</h3><p>A randomized controlled trial added CBM to treatment as usual (TAU), among 181 youth in juvenile detention centers. In a factorial design, participants were randomly assigned to either active- or sham-training for two varieties of CBM, targeting attentional-bias (AtB) and approach-bias (ApB) for their most used substance. Substance use was measured with the Alcohol and Cannabis Use Disorder Identification Tests. Delinquent recidivism was measured with the International Self-Report Delinquency (ISRD) survey.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>At pretest, participants showed AtB but no ApB for both substances. For alcohol, a decrease was found in AtB in the active-training group. For cannabis, a decrease was found in AtB for both active- and sham-training groups. Regardless of condition, no effects were found on substance use or ISRD scores at follow-up.</p></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><p>The sample is judicial, not clinical, as is the setting. TAU and participant goals are not necessarily substance related.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Young offenders show a significant attentional-bias towards substance cues. CBM changed attentional-biases but not substance use. Combining CBM with a motivational intervention is advised. Follow-up research should better integrate CBM with running treatment programs. New developments regarding CBM task design could be used that link training better to treatment.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 101916"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41216344","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mental threat rehearsal increases fear generalization","authors":"Eva A.M. van Dis,&nbsp;Muriel A. Hagenaars,&nbsp;Iris M. Engelhard","doi":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101917","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101917","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and objectives</h3><p>Fear generalization to harmless stimuli characterizes anxiety-related disorders, but much remains unknown about its determinants. Based on studies showing that mental imagery of threat can increase conditioned fear responding, we tested whether it also facilitates fear generalization, and whether threat inflation moderates this effect.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>In a fear conditioning study, 120 participants first completed an acquisition phase, in which one of two pictures was followed by an aversive sound (human scream). Then, the sound was presented 11 times at an increasing (threat inflation) or constant volume (no threat inflation). Finally, a generalization stimulus was presented, and some participants were asked to imagine the last sound (threat rehearsal) and others were not (no threat rehearsal).</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Bayesian informative hypotheses tests indicated that imagery-based threat rehearsal increased generalization of threat expectancy, and, combined with threat inflation, it also resulted in stronger generalized distress.</p></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><p>due to the absence of a test phase, it is unclear whether our effects would transfer to other GSs and whether they would persist beyond the manipulation phase.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Mental imagery of threat may put individuals at risk for fear generalization. Future studies should examine whether modulating imagery may prevent clinical anxiety.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 101917"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0005791623000848/pdfft?md5=a6342ac838f4a7e1d0842bff57d1d1ca&pid=1-s2.0-S0005791623000848-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134935722","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Putting things right: An experimental investigation of memory biases related to symmetry, ordering and arranging behaviour","authors":"Adam S. Radomsky,&nbsp;Catherine Ouellet-Courtois,&nbsp;Elissa Golden,&nbsp;Jessica M. Senn,&nbsp;Chris L. Parrish","doi":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101914","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101914","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and objectives</h3><p>Research indicates the presence of both explicit and implicit memory biases for threat. However, empirical support for the presence of memory biases related to symmetry, ordering and arranging is lacking, despite the fact that many individuals report anxiety associated with their personal belongings being out of place. The aim of this experiment was to examine memory biases for disorderliness and their associations with symmetry, ordering and arranging symptoms.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>Eighty undergraduate participants were assigned to one of four conditions, consisting of rooms in which objects were arranged according to different levels of disorderliness (orderly, slightly disorderly, slightly orderly, and disorderly). Participants next completed a memory task in which their memory for disordered vs. ordered objects was assessed. Measures of OCD symptoms, preference for symmetry, OCD belief domains, anxiety and depression were completed.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Analyses indicated that participants in the slightly disorderly condition showed significantly better recall and recognition for the disordered items than for the ordered items, and that those in the slightly orderly condition showed the same pattern in recall, but not recognition. No associations were found between a preference for symmetry and memory biases.</p></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><p>The sample scored particularly low on our measure of symptoms of preference for symmetry, compromising the generalizability of our results.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Findings provide evidence for a general memory bias for disorderliness, although this bias does not appear to be associated with symmetry, ordering and arranging symptoms. Results are discussed from a cognitive-behavioural perspective with the consideration of feelings of incompleteness.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 101914"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41143535","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The impact of self-referential processing on depression-linked negative interpretive bias","authors":"Clair Lawson,&nbsp;Colin MacLeod,&nbsp;Geoff Hammond,&nbsp;Ben Grafton","doi":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101912","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101912","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and objectives</h3><p>Cognitive theories propose that individuals with heightened depression are characterized by biases in memory and interpretation, favoring the processing of negative information. Individuals with heightened depression exhibit a negative memory bias, and this bias is disproportionately evident when emotional information is processed in a self-referential manner. In studies investigating whether individuals with heightened depression exhibit a negative interpretative bias, the measures employed have often been compromised by serious methodological limitations. When interpretation has been measured using an eye-blink modulation approach, which overcomes these limitations, evidence of depression-linked negative interpretive bias has emerged. However, the important issue of whether this bias depends upon self-referential processing has gone unresolved.</p></div><div><h3>Method</h3><p>In the present study, we assessed interpretation using the eye blink modulation approach, in participants scoring high or low on the Beck Depression Inventory-II. A simple manipulation ensured that ambiguous information either was, or was not, processed in a self-referential manner.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>The results showed that, when ambiguous information was processed in a self-referential manner, participants scoring high on the BDI-II displayed blink magnitudes indicating greater negative interpretative bias compared to participants scoring low on the BDI-II. This was not the case when ambiguous information was processed in an other-referential manner.</p></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><p>The present findings do not permit the inference that this negative interpretive bias causally contributes to depressive symptomatology.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>The results support the hypothesis that people with high levels of depression display greater negative interpretive bias than people with low levels of depression, but only when ambiguous information is processed in a self-referential manner.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 101912"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41155133","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Learning to be inventive in the face of statistics: A positive reappraisal intervention for statistics anxiety","authors":"Corinna M. Perchtold-Stefan ,&nbsp;Magdalena Schertler ,&nbsp;Manuela Paechter ,&nbsp;Andreas Fink ,&nbsp;Elisabeth M. Weiss ,&nbsp;Ilona Papousek","doi":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101913","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101913","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and objectives</h3><p>The burden of statistics anxiety on students calls for effective interventions. This study investigated whether a cognitive reappraisal training designed to stimulate the generation of positive re-interpretations may yield behavioral changes in anxiety measures and changes in cerebral activation patterns reflecting the activation of approach/avoidance motivational tendencies (frontal EEG alpha asymmetry response).</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>Three groups of female psychology students (<em>n</em> = 45) with statistics anxiety were tested. Two groups received a guided, two-week reappraisal training with either statistics-anxiety or general anxiety situations; the control group received no intervention.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Both training groups significantly increased their amount of positive re-interpretations from pre-to post-test compared to the control group. Increased habitual use of reappraisal in statistics situations and significant EEG changes reflecting more approach-oriented coping with anxiety occurred in the statistics-anxiety training group only. No changes in statistics anxiety and statistics attitudes were observed, suggesting that the training effects, though corroborated through neurophysiological changes, did not sufficiently translate to improving students’ deep-rooted anxiety.</p></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><p>Effects, though robust and following the same pattern, were observed in a small sample.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Our findings delineate a promising expandable approach for helping students’ cope with statistics anxiety in a healthier way.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 101913"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41166384","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}