Siblings after suicide--"the forgotten bereaved"

There is scarce research on "the forgotten bereaved"--the children and adolescents who lose a sibling by suicide. In this paper we explore their psychosocial situation and needs for assistance through a Norwegian nationwide study. The results show that particularly younger bereaved siblings are suffering from posttraumatic and grief reactions, depression, and anxiety. Most of the difficulties are not individual, but rather relational and social in nature, and largely contextually dependent. Necessary help is impeded due to the extraordinary experience leaving the siblings outside the circle of friends and parental grief community. A systematic outreach help program is presented.     

The Role of Anxiety/Depression in the Development of Youth High Risk Behaviors: An Examination of Two Competing Hypotheses in a Sample of African-American,Single Mother Families

The role of anxiety/depression in the progression of youth externalizing problems to future high risk behaviors has been disputed in the literature. Mixed support exists for a multiple problem hypothesis (i.e., co-occurring anxiety/depression leads to more high risk behaviors) and a protective hypothesis (i.e., anxiety/depression buffers this progression). The present study compared these two hypotheses in a sample of 124 African-American single mother families by examining mother report of externalizing problems and anxiety/depression at an initial timepoint and youth report of high risk behaviors fifteen months later. Results support the multiple problem hypothesis: In the context of high levels of externalizing problems, high levels of anxiety/depression were associated with more youth engaging in high risk behavior across the 15 month follow-up than were low levels of anxiety/depression. The findings suggest it is important to consider multiple domains of youth problem behaviors to conceptualize and prevent high risk behaviors.     

Reducing Academic Related Anxiety

This paper discusses anxiety from psychological and educational perspectives, with emphasis upon developing and implementing interventions in school settings. Definitions and characteristics of anxiety are presented, followed by discussion of anxiety as a problem in academic and personal-social functioning. Discussion occurs about identification, assessment, and the development of specific intervention techniques. Included are suggestions of how special services providers can assist in working with academic related anxiety in regular and special education.     

Comparison of cognitive-behavioural therapy and psychodynamic therapy in the treatment of anxiety among university students: an effectiveness study

The aim of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioural (CBT) and psychodynamic (PDT) therapies in the treatment of anxiety among university students. To this aim, the Symptom Questionnaire (SQ) was completed by 30 students assigned to CBT and by 24 students assigned to PDT, both at the beginning and at the end of treatment. The main problem presented by all patients was anxiety. Except for one sub-scale, we observed significant differences in the scores of all sub-scales and scales of SQ, with lower scores at the end of the therapy, indicating lower distress, regardless of the type of treatment. The present findings suggest that both therapies are effective in the treatment of anxiety among university students.     

Relaxation-induced anxiety: mechanisms and theoretical implications

Literature evidence documenting the occurrence of relaxation-induced anxiety is reviewed, and several hypothesized mechanisms to explain the phenomenon are discussed. Possible avenues for circumventing the problem in therapy are offered. Finally, a theoretical model is presented wherein the phenomenon is viewed with a broader framework designed to explain the development and maintenance of the more generalized anxiety disorders. That framework emphasizes the emergence of fear of somatic anxiety cues and fear of loss of control from more fundamental interpersonal anxieties.     

The language of anxiety: The subjective experience of vulnerability

The experience of anxiety is a condition known to mankind from time immemorial. In contemporary clinical practice anxiety is the driving force behind some of the most difficult and seemingly intractable clinical syndromes presented to clinicians today. It presents a major challenge to non-clinical populations as well. This paper discusses the problem of anxiety from the perspective of language —the primitive roots of language. How understanding these roots helps therapists to better grasp their patients' inner experience and some suggestions for anxiety management are discussed.     

"Company motivates the miserable": the impact of consensus information on help seeking for psychological problems

Based on an attribution theory analysis, it was predicted that normal individuals (people who do not evidence a particular target problem) would be least motivated to seek help for a psychological problem when they believe that the problem is actuarially common (i.e., high consensus). Based on an analysis of how target problem people evaluate their psychological problem, however, it was predicted that such individuals (unlike normal individuals) should be maximally motivated to seek help when they believe that the problem is common. To test these predictions, target problem and normal individuals (high vs. average test anxious females) were given feedback that they possessed a problem (test anxiety). Individuals were then told that their problem was either common, uncommon, or given no consensus information. As predicted, the higher consensus information led to the least help-seeking behavior for the normal individuals and to the most help-seeking behavior for the target problem individuals.     

The neurodevelopmental basis of math anxiety

Math anxiety is a negative emotional reaction to situations involving mathematical problem solving. Math anxiety has a detrimental impact on an individual's long-term professional success, but its neurodevelopmental origins are unknown. In a functional MRI study on 7- to 9-year-old children, we showed that math anxiety was associated with hyperactivity in right amygdala regions that are important for processing negative emotions. In addition, we found that math anxiety was associated with reduced activity in posterior parietal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex regions involved in mathematical reasoning. Multivariate classification analysis revealed distinct multivoxel activity patterns, which were independent of overall activation levels in the right amygdala. Furthermore, effective connectivity between the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex regions that regulate negative emotions was elevated in children with math anxiety. These effects were specific to math anxiety and unrelated to general anxiety, intelligence, working memory, or reading ability. Our study identified the neural correlates of math anxiety for the first time, and our findings have significant implications for its early identification and treatment.     

Reduced autobiographical memory specificity as a mediating factor between general anxiety symptoms and performance on problem‐solving tasks

This study sought to further explain the association between general anxiety symptoms and impaired problem‐solving by testing whether this occurs, in part, through a reduced ability to retrieve event‐level, specific autobiographical memory (AM). Participants (N = 301; M age = 28.2 SD = 7.7, 55.8% female) completed assessments of the retrieval of specific AM, anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, and rumination. They then completed the Means‐End Problem Solving Task, which assessed their ability to produce relevant problem‐solving steps. Participants who were higher in anxiety reported a lesser number of relevant problem‐solving steps, and this association was, in part, related to anxiety being associated with reduced AM specificity (after controlling for depressive symptoms). Rumination did not mediate anxiety and problem‐solving, nor anxiety and AM specificity. These findings provide further evidence that elevated anxiety is associated with reduced ability to retrieve specific AM, and a specific cognitive pathway through which anxiety may affect problem‐solving performance.     

Drooping out: Relationship of speaking anxiety to self-esteem, crime, and educational achievement.

This study focused on the relationship that anxiety about speaking has to educational achievement, self-esteem, and type of crime. The data gathered from 46 female felons indicated significant relationships and suggested that programs designed to decrease anxiety about speaking can be effectively presented. Perhaps such treatment should be the first step in developing and correcting deficiencies in skills thereby preventing the skid toward dropping out and delinquency.     

Consumers who avoid relationships: social anxiety in commercial contexts

This article focuses on the study of consumers with social anxiety who avoid relationships in commercial settings. While relationship marketing recommends fostering personal relationships with customers, our research shows that too much closeness can be a problem for people with social anxiety who are apprehensive about interacting with strangers. A qualitative study based on 17 in‐depth interviews with individuals with social anxiety allows us to specify the contexts that give rise to social anxiety—physical closeness between consumer and salesperson, when the interaction is relatively long, in new situations, or in situations designed to be repeated. Our study shows that social anxiety has psychological, economic, and time costs for the consumer. Additionally, the study sets out the relational preferences of people with social anxiety, showing that they prefer neutral, distant or anonymous relationships, that they do not like or benefit from special treatment, nor do they like to be surprised by novelty. The conventional recommendations of relational marketing (e.g., creating a close relationship with customers) are partly called into question by this study, which shows that not all individuals necessarily want such relationships in a commercial context. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Treatment of Test Anxiety in Elementary School-Age Children

Test anxiety has a dramatic impact upon a surprisingly large segment of the school population. Although test anxiety has been extensively studied for decades, little research has focused on intervention programs for younger school children. This paper discussed the conceptual framework of test anxiety and the resulting intervention philosophy from these different theoretical formulations. Assessment procedures for children are reviewed. Different kinds of intervention programs are discussed, compared and evaluated. These include systematic desensitization, cognitive restructuring, and educational approaches such as study skills training and modeling. Recommendations are made to enhance the existing research. Suggestions for future research are presented.     

领悟社会支持对社交焦虑的影响:反刍思维的中介作用和社会阻抑的调节作用

本研究旨在探索领悟社会支持对社交焦虑的影响,深入探讨社会阻抑和反刍思维对该影响的作用。方法:采用问卷法,以471名职员为被试进行调查,数据结果分析采用Bootstrap分析方法。结果显示:(1)反刍思维在领悟社会支持和社交焦虑之间起中介作用。领悟社会支持通过降低反刍思维的水平,减轻社交焦虑。(2)社会阻抑调节领悟社会支持→反刍思维→社交焦虑中介模型的前半路径,社会阻抑改变了领悟社会支持对反刍思维作用的大小。     

Extent and nature of anxiety experienced during physical examination of chronic low back pain

There is strong evidence to suggest that anxiety is a common problem for many chronic pain patients and can exacerbate a patient's pain condition. Notwithstanding, there is little information about the extent and nature of anxiety experienced during physical examination of pain, or the primary factors associated with anxiety in this context. In the present study, 45 chronic low back pain patients completed a questionnaire battery at the time of intake to an interdisciplinary treatment program. After approximately four weeks on program, patients underwent a routine standardized physiotherapy review of their condition following which they completed a second questionnaire battery. The examination was videotaped and coded for pain behavior. Physiotherapists provided objective scoring of non-organic signs and physical impairment. Results suggested that participants experienced substantial anxiety at the point of examination with scores on the Beck Anxiety Inventory (M = 30.47, S.D. = 6.96) comparable to scores that have been found with DSM-IV panic disorder patients. Regression analyses revealed that catastrophic cognitions, behavioral displays of pain and somatic sensations measured during examination uniquely predicted anxiety experienced during examination. Demographic, injury-related, personality, and patient-practitioner variables did not significantly contribute to explaining examination anxiety. Findings support cognitive-behavioral formulations of anxiety and strongly suggest that anxiety may complicate the assessment process. Implications for the assessment and treatment of pain are presented along with future research directions.     

Individual differences in disgust sensitivity and health-related avoidance: Examination of specific associations

This present study examined the specificity of disgust sensitivity in predicting health-related anxiety and behavioral avoidance. Participants (n = 60) completed self-report measures of disgust sensitivity, health anxiety, anxiety, and depression. They then completed three randomly presented health-related behavioral avoidance tasks (BATs) that consisted of potential exposure to the common cold, the flu, and mononucleosis. Results indicated that disgust sensitivity was significantly associated with anxious and avoidant responding to the health-related BATs. This association also remained largely intact after controlling for gender, anxiety, depression, and health anxiety. These findings indicate that disgust sensitivity has a specific and robust association with health-related anxiety and avoidance commonly observed among those with excessive health anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder. The unique role of disgust sensitivity in relation to health anxiety is discussed in the context of a disease-avoidance model.     

Anxiety and selective attention in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Recently, there has been increasing evidence for information-processing deficits in individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). While impairments in selective attention have been identified to be central to the symptomatology of OCD, the role that situational anxiety plays in attentional processes has not been fully explored. Previous research findings were limited to tasks containing anxiety-relevant materials, only permitting for the evaluation of the impact of anxiety on simultaneous cognitive processing. Furthermore, it has not yet been determined whether the impact of anxiety is limited to selective attention or is indicative of a more general cognitive impairment. This study was designed to examine the role that situational anxiety plays in selective attention impairments. OCD participants and controls were presented with an anxiety producing statement and a neutral statement, followed by the Stroop Task. Results indicated that situational anxiety plays a significant role in the performance of tasks that require selective attention in OCD. A significant deterioration was detected in performance on selective attention tasks for the OCD participants after confronting anxiety-provoking scenarios, as compared to neutral scenarios. Anxiety did not impair performance on simple reading tasks. Possible explanations are discussed.     

Using Retrieval Cues to Attenuate Return of Fear in Individuals With Public Speaking Anxiety

Even after successful exposure, relapse is not uncommon. Based on the retrieval model of fear extinction (e.g., Vervliet, Craske, & Hermans, 2013), return of fear can occur after exposure due to an elapse of time (spontaneous recovery) or change in context (contextual renewal). The use of external salient stimuli presented throughout extinction (i.e., retrieval cues [RCs]) has been suggested as a potential solution to this problem (Bouton, 2002). The current study examined whether RCs attenuated return of fear in individuals with public speaking anxiety. Sixty-five participants completed a brief exposure while presented with two RC stimuli aimed at a variety of senses (visual, tactile, olfactory, and auditory). Later, half the participants were tested for return of fear in a context different from the exposure context, and the other half in the same context. Half of each context group were presented with the same cues as in exposure, while the other half were not. Return of fear due to an elapse of time, change in context, and effects of RCs were evaluated on subjective, behavioral, and physiological measures of anxiety. Although contextual renewal was not observed, results supported effects of RCs in reducing spontaneous recovery on behavioral and physiological measures of anxiety. There was also evidence that participants who were reminded of feeling anxious during exposure by the RCs benefited more from using them at follow-up, whereas those who perceived the cues as comforting (safety signals) benefited less. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed.     

状态焦虑对条件性恐惧泛化的影响

恐惧的过度泛化是焦虑障碍患者重要的潜在病因,探索焦虑对恐惧泛化的影响具有重要意义。本研究在恐惧习得后,通过恐惧创伤电影范式诱发状态焦虑组被试的焦虑水平,采用主观预期值和皮电反应值作为指标,考察状态焦虑对条件性恐惧泛化的影响。结果表明,恐惧创伤电影范式显著提高了状态焦虑组被试的焦虑水平。在泛化阶段,状态焦虑组被试表现出更强的恐惧泛化,对与条件刺激相似的泛化刺激表现出更强烈的恐惧以及更高的预期。状态焦虑使得被试恐惧泛化的消退更慢,持续时间更长。研究同时发现,在状态焦虑下,被试对条件刺激的辨识出现增强趋势。研究结果提示在对经历负性事件个体进行临床干预时,可通过降低其焦虑水平来减少过度泛化。     

Prüfungsangst bewältigen

Test anxiety or exam anxiety is a prevalent problem among students. Therefore, a high proportion of students seek help in university counseling centers. Based on a theoretical review of psychological theories and models of test anxiety, a cognitive-behavioral training program for coping with test anxiety as well as the evaluation of the program is presented. The program includes elements of behavior training with video-supported role playing and simulation of (oral) test situations, enhancement of learning and preparation strategies including time management as well as cognitive intervention strategies and relaxation training. Evaluation of the workshop program shows significant reduction of test anxiety and the strengthening of self-efficacy. The group program also lends itself for application with other groups, such as school students or for the preparation of job interviews.     

Generalization of conditioned fear-potentiated startle in humans: experimental validation and clinical relevance

Though generalization of conditioned fear has been implicated as a central feature of pathological anxiety, surprisingly little is known about the psychobiology of this learning phenomenon in humans. Whereas animal work has frequently applied methods to examine generalization gradients to study the gradual weakening of the conditioned-fear response as the test stimulus increasingly differs from the conditioned stimulus (CS), to our knowledge no psychobiological studies of such gradients have been conducted in humans over the last 40 years. The current effort validates an updated generalization paradigm incorporating more recent methods for the objective measurement of anxiety (fear-potentiated startle). The paradigm employs 10, quasi-randomly presented, rings of gradually increasing size with extremes serving as CS+ and CS−. The eight rings of intermediary size serve as generalization stimuli (GSs) and create a continuum-of-similarity from CS+ to CS−. Both startle data and online self-report ratings demonstrate continuous decreases in generalization as the presented stimulus becomes less similar to the CS+. The current paradigm represents an updated and efficacious tool with which to study fear generalization—a central, yet understudied conditioning-correlate of pathologic anxiety.