Safety Behavior After Extinction Triggers a Return of Threat Expectancy

Safety behavior is involved in the maintenance of anxiety disorders, presumably because it prevents the violation of negative expectancies. Recent research showed that safety behavior is resistant to fear extinction. This fear conditioning study investigated whether safety behavior after fear extinction triggers a return of fear in healthy participants. Participants learned that two stimuli (A and C) were followed by an aversive loud noise (“threat”), and one stimulus (B) was not. Participants then learned to use safety behavior that prevented the loud noise. Next, A and C were no longer followed by the loud noise, which typically led to extinction of threat expectancy. Safety behavior then became available again for C, but not for A and B. All participants used safety behavior on these C trials. In a final test phase, A, B, and C were presented once without the availability to use safety behavior. At each stimulus presentation, participants rated threat expectancy by indicating to what extent they expected that the loud noise would follow. Compared with the last extinction trial, threat expectancy increased for C in the test phase, whereas it did not increase for A and B. Hence, safety behavior after the extinction of classically conditioned fear caused a partial return of fear. The findings suggest that safety behavior may be involved in relapse after exposure-based therapy for anxiety disorders.     

Protecting Women from the Negative Effects of Body Dissatisfaction: The Role of Differentiation of Self

ABSTRACT

Body dissatisfaction is a prevalent and concerning issue among college age women. Due to its strong association with eating pathology, identification of moderating variables is a crucial line of inquiry. The present study investigated the ability for an intrapersonal differentiation-of-self variable (“I” position) to attenuate the impact of body dissatisfaction on anorexia and bulimia symptoms among college women participants. Study findings indicated that an “I” position moderated the body dissatisfaction-bulimia relationship and the body dissatisfaction-anorexia relationship. These findings signified the protective influence of a high “I” position for women with high levels of body dissatisfaction. Research and therapeutic implications are discussed.     

Équivalence de la version en français pour le Canada et de la version originale états-unienne de l’Adult Self-Report

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the equivalence of the French-Canadian version of the Adult Self-Report (ASR; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2003) to its original English (USA) version. Both the original English version and the newly translated French-Canadian version were administered to 251 bilingual students from four Canadian provinces (Manitoba, New-Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec), with a one to two weeks interval. Correlations varying from 0.72 to 0.87 indicated a high degree of correspondence between the scales of the two versions. Cohen's d calculated using Morris and DeShon's (2002) formula for within-subjects designs indicate that differences between mean scores varied from near-zero (d = 0.01) to small (d = 0.19), and suggest that they are not clinically significant. Ordinal alpha coefficients for the scales of the French-Canadian version varied from 0.66 to 0.96 but are inferior to those of the English version in seven of the eleven scales. Globally, results indicate that the equivalence of the French-Canadian version to the original English version of the ASR is sufficient to recommend its use.     

A psychoanalytically informed hospitalization‐based treatment of personality disorders

This study presents a model of psychic change in personality disorders focusing on three dimensions: felt safety, mentalization and self‐object relations. Based upon this model a hospitalization‐based therapy program was created. Four scales to measure these three dimensions on the Object Relation Interview are discussed: the Felt Safety Scale, the Reflective Functioning Scale and the Bion Grid Scale and the Differentiation‐Relatedness Scale. A naturalistic symptom outcome study of the program showed a large effect on both symptoms and personality functioning. Furthermore, trajectory based on pre‐treatment patient characteristics (i.e., anaclitic versus introjective personality styles). Importantly, we also found a relation between symptomatic and personality change and change in felt safety and object relations. At 5‐year follow‐up, patients showed sustained improvement in symptomatic distress and further improvement in terms of personality and interpersonal functioning.     

Can we fight stigma with science? The effect of aetiological framing on attitudes towards anorexia nervosa and the impact on volitional stigma

The present study experimentally investigated the way in which exposure to various aetiological explanations of anorexia nervosa (AN) differentially affected stigmatisation and behavioural intention outcomes. University students (N = 161) were randomly assigned to read one of four aetiological vignettes presenting the causes of AN as biological/genetic, socio‐cultural, environmental, or multifactorial. Results indicate that those who received a socio‐cultural explanation made stronger socio‐cultural causal attributions, fewer biological/genetic causal attributions, and were significantly less willing to sign a health insurance petition for AN. Unexpectedly, the multifactorial group considered individuals with AN as more responsible and blameworthy for their condition. Overall, findings were comparative with previous research and partially support the propositions of attribution theory. Results also suggest that by conceptualising the aetiology of AN as biological or genetic, or at least increasing one's knowledge of these contributing factors, it may be possible to decrease the level of blame‐based stigma associated with AN.     

Psychometric properties of the Situational Inventory of Body-Image Dysphoria-Short form in a Spanish sample

The primary objective of this study was to translate and validate Situational Inventory of Body-Image Dysphoria-Short form (SIBID-S) in a Spanish population. The scale consists of 20 items to assess the frequency of dysphoric body-image emotions in certain situational contexts, using a five-point rating scale. The questionnaire was administered to 214 women between the ages of 14 and 29 years, from primary and secondary schools and a university. Principal components analysis indicated a one-factor structure for the entire sample and both younger (<18) and older (≥18) participants. Internal consistency was high (0.94), and the test–retest reliability over 1 month ranged between 0.89 and 0.93. The SIBID-S showed good convergent validity in relation to other pertinent measures of body image, eating pathology, and self-esteem. Moreover, the SIBID-S was differentiated low-risk, subclinical eating disturbed, and clinical eating disordered patients. Results support the potential utility of the SIBID-S in the Spanish female population, including a younger group than previously studied, as well as its usefulness in the assessment of body image among females varying in degrees of eating pathology.