Distress intolerance and worry: the mediating role of cognitive variables

Background and Objectives: Distress intolerance (DI) has been identified as a potential risk factor for a variety of maladaptive avoidance behaviors, including worry. However, mechanisms linking DI to specific behaviors remain poorly understood. One hypothesis is that DI is a general vulnerability that confers risk of particular avoidance behaviors via more specific, lower-order vulnerabilities. The current study examined associations between DI and worry-related cognitions. Design: A multiple mediator model tested the hypothesis that worry-related variables (intolerance of uncertainty [IU], cognitive avoidance, beliefs about worry, and negative problem orientation) mediated the association between DI and worry. Methods: An undergraduate student (n = 281) and a clinical (n = 123) sample completed self-report measures. Results: Across samples, worry was associated with higher levels of DI, IU, cognitive avoidance, beliefs about worry, and negative problem orientation. Mediation results differed somewhat between the two samples. In the undergraduate sample, IU, negative beliefs about worry, and positive beliefs about worry mediated the association between DI and worry. In the clinical sample, negative problem orientation and negative beliefs about worry mediated the association between DI and worry. Conclusions: Results provide initial evidence that DI may be associated with worry via unique risk factors.     

ANXIETY SENSITIVITY AND TRAIT-SYMPTOM MEASURES OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION

The Icelandic version of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index was investigated in two studies of college students. A principal components analysis of ASI scores from both studies (N=718) yielded three components similar to what has been found previously: Psychological Concerns, Physical Concerns and Social Concerns. In the first study the relationship between the ASI and trait anxiety was investigated. It was analysed at the level of the total scales but also at the level of subscales of both instruments. Two subscales of the STAI, measuring respectively Anxiety-trait and Depression-trait, were used as well as the Psychological Concerns and Physical Concerns subscales of the ASI. In a second study the relationships between ASI and its subscales and two symptom measures of anxiety and depression were addressed. ASI was in both studies more strongly related to the anxiety than the depression scales. Also, in both studies the Physical Concerns subscale of the ASI was more strongly related to anxiety than to depression, whereas the Psychological Concerns subscale was equally related to anxiety and depression. Taken together the studies support the notion of different relationships between different aspects of anxiety sensitivity, and anxiety and depression as traits, cognitive symptoms and mood related symptoms.     

An Interactional Perspective on Coping with Intimate Partner Violence: Counterattack,Call for Help,or Give in and Obey Him?

This research reports on an investigation of if and how help-seeking women perceived that they had coped in intimate partner violence situations. Within a cross-sectional design, a representative sample of 157 help-seeking women in Norway was interviewed. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted. Results indicated that exposure to psychological, physical, and sexual intimate partner violence, respectively, did elicit different coping strategies in one and the same woman. There were also significant differences between women who perceived they had effective coping strategies and those who did not. This research suggests that a multivariate design within an interactional perspective could inform and enhance our understanding of coping strategies in intimate partner violence situations as complex, heterogeneous, and dynamic phenomena.     

A systematic review of the relationship between impulsivity and violence in persons with psychosis: Evidence or spin cycle?

Individual differences in impulsive traits have been associated with a number of deviant behaviors, and impulsivity has been assumed to play a critical role in the manifestation of violent and other criminal behavior. Despite frequent citations of a positive association between impulsivity and violence in persons with psychosis, conflicting findings in the research literature elicited this systematic review. The main aims were to examine the empirical evidence of the association and to determine whether the research design and measurement used were sufficient for testing a possible causal relationship. Two types of empirical evidence were searched for in keeping with the traditional trait-state dichotomy: documentation of the direct impact of impulsivity on carrying out the violent act (state), and documentation of elevated levels of impulsivity in a person and increased occurrence of violent acts (trait). Searches that were conducted in six databases resulted in one study that supported the association and three that did not. Only 2 out of 22 estimates obtained from bivariate analysis indicated evidence of an impulsivity–violence link. No single study had a design that yielded data on a direct impact of impulsivity on carrying out the violent act (i.e., the state aspect of the association).     

Psychosocial and Behavioural Assessment of Chronic Pain: Recommendations for Clinicians and Researchers

Abstract

A variety of methods have been developed for the assessment of chronic benign pain. In research or in clinical practise, choosing an adequate measurement technique can be a laborious task. This article has two main purposes: to report on some basic features to consider when selecting assessment instruments, and to present a review of some psychosocial and behavioural measurement methods for the assessment of chronic benign pain. The selected methods have, with one exception, been evaluated on Swedish chronic pain populations and are used in international pain research. In conclusion, we recommend the use of psychometrically sound instruments, and that the purposes for use of a measure have to be thoroughly considered in advance. We also emphasize that in clinical practise, each separate measure must be interpreted in a wider context, where clinical findings and judgements are considered as a whole. In addition, none of the single reviewed assessment techniques can replace the communication between the patient and the clinician.     

PREDICATION AND EXTENSIONALIZATION

In his 2000 book Logical Properties Colin McGinn argues that predicates denote properties rather than sets or individuals. I support the thesis, but show that it is vulnerable to a type-incongruity objection, if properties are (modelled as) functions, unless a device for extensionalizing properties is added. Alternatively, properties may be construed as primitive intensional entities, as in George Bealer. However, I object to Bealer’s construal of predication as a primitive operation inputting two primitive entities and outputting a third primitive entity. Instead I recommend we follow Pavel Tichy in construing both predication and extensionalization as instances of the primitive operation of functional application.     

Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI): Norwegian norms to identify conduct problems in children

This article presents the first Norwegian standardization of an assessment tool specifically designed to measure childhood conduct problems. Norwegian norms for the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI) based on data obtained from a random population sample (N= 4063) of children in the age range of 4 to 12 years are presented. The sample was drawn from rural and urban areas within three Norwegian town districts. Clinical and research advantages of having a properly standardized assessment tool for this specific subclass of childhood psychiatric problems in Norway are discussed.