Effects of anxiety sensitivity on anxiety and pain during a cold pressor challenge in patients with panic disorder

Fear of anxiety symptoms, or anxiety sensitivity (AS), has been extensively studied in anxiety disorders and more recently has been linked to other psychopathological conditions including pain. Asmundson and colleagues have suggested that AS may act as a risk factor for chronic pain and several studies have demonstrated an association between AS, avoidance behaviors and pain. The present study assessed whether AS levels would be predictive of pain and anxiety during a brief pain induction task. Clinical participants meeting DSM-IV criteria for panic disorder (n = 22) were age and sex matched with nonclinical controls (n = 22) and exposed to a 2-min cold pressor challenge. Diagnostic status and AS were significantly predictive of pain and anxiety during the cold pressor task. Moreover, AS appears to mediate the relationship between diagnostic status and pain. However, AS appears to be only indirectly associated with pain through its contribution to anxiety.     

Prospective evaluation of anxiety sensitivity in the pathogenesis of panic: replication and extension.

Increasing evidence suggests that anxiety sensitivity (AS) may be a premorbid risk factor for the development of anxiety pathology. The principal aim of this study was to replicate and extend a previous longitudinal study evaluating whether AS acts as a vulnerability factor in the pathogenesis of panic (N. Schmidt, D. Lerew, & R. Jackson, 1997). A large nonclinical sample of young adults (N = 1,296) was prospectively followed over a 5-week, highly stressful period of time (i.e., military basic training). Consistent with the authors' initial study, AS predicted the development of spontaneous panic attacks after controlling for a history of panic attacks and trait anxiety, and AS was found to possess symptom specificity with respect to anxiety versus depression symptoms. AS 1st-order factors differentially predicted panic attacks, with the Mental Concerns factor being the best predictor of panic in this sample.     

Attributional and Symbolic Predictors of Abortion Attitudes1

Attributional and symbolic politics approaches were used to develop a model relating symbolic predispositions, perceptions of responsibility for unwanted pregnancy, affects, and attitudes toward abortion. In Study 1, a taxonomy of 12 distinct causes of unwanted pregnancy was identified. College-student subjects in Study 2 rated these causes on importance, controllability, blame, pity, anger, and judgments in favor of abortion. A regression analysis revealed that abortion approval in this student sample is negatively related to conservatism, religiosity, and blame. In Study 3, a more extensive path mode) is offered indicating that abortion approval in a nonstudent sample is linked negatively to religiosity and moral traditionalism, and positively to sympathy. Results of the study demonstrate the utility of applying social psychological theory to abortion attitudes.     

Diagnostic assessment of cerebrospinal fluid protein in brain and spinal tumors

The cerebrospinal fluid of 69 patients with tumors of the brain and the spine was examined for total protein content, IgG concentration, IgG total protein quotient, and electrophoretic protein pattern. There is no specific finding in the case of the central nervous system. At best characteristic constellations may be established.     

Development of a tool to assess suicide risk factors in urban adolescents

Dramatic increases in the adolescent suicide rate over the past three decades have underscored the need for risk-assessment tools. The tools that do exist are oriented to older populations and their application to adolescents is questionable. A project was initiated at the University of Utah's Health Education Department to develop a pilot instrument to examine the differences between adolescents who have attempted suicide and other teenagers. Eighty-two subjects between the ages of 14 and 19 participated in the test of this instrument. Twenty-five subjects were identified by a physician or psychologist as having failed in a sincere suicide attempt within the previous 18 months. Fifty-seven nonsuicide attempters with similar demographic profiles served as a comparison group. An 86-item questionnaire was administered to both groups. Questions were generated from a review of the literature of the past three decades for problems associated with suicide in this population. Questions were sorted into three domains (family environment, social environment, and self-perceptions), with each domain having several subdomains. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences for each of the three domains and on 55 of 86 questions. The results were used to create a streamlined instrument for assessing suicide risk that can be administered in 20 minutes.     

ASSESSING AND IMPROVING CHILD CARE: A PERSONAL APPEARANCE INDEX FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

An index of children's physical appearance and personal care was developed and used to assess youngsters with autism who lived (a) at home, (b) in an established group home, (c) in new group homes, and (d) in a large institution. Subsequently, a multiple baseline design across participants documented major changes in personal appearance and cleanliness when children moved from an institution to community-based, family-style group homes. Finally, data-based feedback generated by the appearance index was used as a training tool enabling group home staff to further improve child appearance. This research demonstrates how an evaluation instrument can be used to obtain comparative data, measure some effects of different residential placements, and provide ongoing feedback to caregivers to promote high standards of personal care among persons with severe developmental disabilities.     

Psychosocial management of glioma patients treated with combined therapy

Based on an empirical study it is pointed out that psychosocial care of patients with glioma differs in some points from that of other cancer patients. The first essential difference is that the emotional involvement of the care staff is not as intensive as those of other cancer patients. Other differences concern some illness- and therapy related effects such as family problems or monotony problems resulting from the longterm therapy. These specific problems are described in detail.     

AN EXTENSION OF INCIDENTAL TEACHING PROCEDURES TO READING INSTRUCTION FOR AUTISTIC CHILDREN

In an extension of incidental teaching procedures to reading instruction, two autistic children acquired functional sight-word reading skills in the context of a play activity. Children gained access to preferred toys by selecting the label of the toy in tasks requiring increasingly complex visual discriminations. In addition to demonstrating rapid acquisition of 5-choice discriminations, they showed comprehension on probes requiring reading skills to locate toys stored in labeled boxes. Also examined was postteaching transfer across stimulus materials and response modalities. Implications are that extensions of incidental teaching to new response classes may produce the same benefits documented in communication training, in terms of producing generalization concurrent with skill acquisition in the course of child-preferred activities.     

Scanning two memorized lists

Subjects were timed as they decided whether singly presented probe words belonged to one or the other of two memorized lists, or to neither list. Each list varied in length from one to four words. Reaction times increased linearly with the combined number of words in the two lists. When there was no a priori basis for distinguishing the lists, the slope of the function for positive test probes was 33–35 msec per word higher than that for negative probes. The slope for negative probes was 58 msec per word in one experiment and 46 msec per word in another. This suggests that subjects first scanned the combined lists exhaustively to determine whether the probe was present; if it was not, they made a negative response, and if it was, they scanned again to determine which list it was in. When the words in the two lists were conceptually distinct (one list representing animate and the other inanimate objects), the difference in slope was reduced to only 6 msec per word, suggesting that the second scan was all but eliminated.