An examination of recent non-clinical panic attacks, panic disorder, anxiety sensitivity, and emotion regulation difficulties in the prediction of generalized anxiety disorder in an analogue sample

The Association between Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration, Victimization, and Mental Health among Women Arrested for Domestic Violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major problem. Unfortunately there is a dearth of research on the associations between IPV perpetration, victimization, and mental health among women. The current study examined these associations among a sample of women arrested for domestic violence and court-referred to batterer intervention programs (BIPs; N = 88). Using self-report screening instruments for Axis I and Axis II mental health problems, results showed very high rates of mental health problems among women. In addition, both IPV perpetration and victimization were associated with increased mental health symptoms. Women who met diagnostic cutoff scores reported greater IPV perpetration/victimization than women who did not meet those cutoff scores. Implications of these findings for future research and IPV interventions are discussed.

Emotion Regulation and the Anxiety Disorders: An Integrative Review

The construct of emotion regulation has been increasingly investigated in the last decade, and this work has important implications for advancing anxiety disorder theory. This paper reviews research demonstrating that: 1) emotion (i.e., fear and anxiety) and emotion regulation are distinct, non-redundant, constructs that can be differentiated at the conceptual, behavioral, and neural levels of analysis; 2) emotion regulation can augment or diminish fear, depending on the emotion regulation strategy employed; and 3) measures of emotion regulation explain incremental variance in anxiety disorder symptoms above and beyond the variance explained by measures of emotional reactivity. The authors propose a model by which emotion regulation may function in the etiology of anxiety disorders. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research.

Fears of cognitive dyscontrol and publicly observable anxiety symptoms: depression predictors in moderate-to-high worriers

This study examined the relation between dimensions of anxiety sensitivity (AS) and depression symptoms in 94 moderate-to-high worriers (mean age=19.02 years, SD=2.07; age range=18-36; 76.6% females). Two hypotheses were tested: (1) AS as a unitary construct would significantly predict depression symptoms even after controlling for worry and GAD symptoms, and (2) the fear of cognitive dyscontrol and the fear of publicly observable anxiety reactions dimensions of AS would significantly predict depression symptoms even after controlling for worry and GAD symptoms. Consistent with hypotheses, hierarchical linear multiple regressions showed that AS as a unitary construct, as well as the fear of publicly observable anxiety reactions and fear of cognitive dyscontrol dimensions, significantly predicted depression symptoms even after controlling for worry and GAD symptoms. A discussion of findings in the context of the specificity and nonspecificity of AS is provided, along with potential implications for clinicians and researchers working with moderate-to-high worriers.