Public and private self-consciousness as specific psychopathological features

Self-Consciousness, Self-Objectification, and Social Anxiety as Predictors of Photo Editing Behavior among Emerging Adults

This study aims to assess the impact of self-consciousness, self-objectification, and social anxiety on photo editing behavior among emerging adults. Correlational research strategy was used for the present quantitative research, and convenient sampling strategy was used to collect data of 444 university students (135 males and 309 females) with the age range of 18-25 years. The self-consciousness scale, objectified body consciousness scale, photo manipulation scale, and social anxiety scale were used as assessment tools for this study. For data analysis, $t$ -test for independent samples, correlation, and regression analysis were implied. The results revealed that women had higher self-consciousness and social anxiety in contrast to men. Moreover, self-objectification and evaluation anxiety were positively correlated with photo editing behavior. Lastly, overall self-objectification and body shame, one of the three aspects of self-objectification resulted as significant predictors of photo manipulation behavior among emerging adults. This study contributes to the indigenous literature of clinical and social psychology.

The neuropsychology of self-reflection in psychiatric illness

The development of robust neuropsychological measures of social and affective function-which link critical dimensions of mental health to their underlying neural circuitry-could be a key step in achieving a more pathophysiologically-based approach to psychiatric medicine. In this article, we summarize research indicating that self-reflection (the inward attention to personal thoughts, memories, feelings, and actions) may be a useful model for developing such a paradigm, as there is evidence that self-reflection is (1) measurable with self-report scales and performance-based tests, (2) linked to the activity of a specific neural circuit, and (3) dimensionally related to mental health and various forms of psychopathology.

Cognitive processes as mediators of the relation between mindfulness and change in social anxiety symptoms following cognitive behavioral treatment

The present study examined whether pretreatment mindfulness exerts an indirect effect on outcomes following cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Cognitive processes of probability and cost bias (i.e., overestimations of the likelihood that negative social events will occur, and that these events will have negative consequences when they do occur) were explored as potential mediators of the relation between mindfulness and social anxiety symptom change. People with higher levels of mindfulness may be better able to benefit from treatments that reduce biases because mindfulness may aid in regulation of attention. Sixty-seven individuals with a primary diagnosis of social phobia identifying public speaking as their greatest fear received eight sessions of one of two types of exposure-based CBT delivered according to treatment manuals. Participants completed self-report measures of mindfulness, probability bias, cost bias, and social anxiety symptoms. Mediation hypotheses were assessed by a bootstrapped regression using treatment outcome data. Pretreatment mindfulness was not related to change in social anxiety symptoms from pre- to posttreatment. However, mindfulness had an indirect effect on treatment outcome via its association with probability bias, but not cost bias, at midtreatment. These findings were consistent across three metrics of social anxiety symptoms. Mindfulness may play a role in response to CBT among individuals with social phobia through its relation with probability bias--even when the treatment does not target mindfulness.

Examination of the trait facets of the five-factor model in discriminating specific mood and anxiety disorders

Structural models of the mood and anxiety disorders postulate that each disorder has a shared component that can account for comorbidity and its own unique component that distinguishes it from others. The principal aim of the current study was to determine the extent to which the 30 facets of the Five-Factor Model (FFM), as measured by the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R), contribute to the identification of the unique component in mood and anxiety disorders in treatment-seeking clinical samples. Participants (N=610) were psychiatric outpatients with principal DSM-IV diagnoses (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) diagnoses of major depressive disorder (MDD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), generalized social phobia (GSP), panic disorder with/without agoraphobia (PD; PD/A) or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Results suggest that approximately half of the variance in differences between these diagnoses is associated with specific characteristics represented by the FFM facets. Unique personality profiles for the MDD, GSP, PTSD and, to a lesser extent, OCD groups emerged. Broad traits of the FFM, when broken into more narrow components at the facet level, contribute significantly to the identification of unique aspects associated with specific mood and anxiety disorders. The integration of lower and higher levels of structural examination of the mood and anxiety disorders is discussed.

Does a specific dental amalgam syndrome exist? A comparative study

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this article was to investigate whether there is evidence for a specific syndrome of health problems attributed to dental amalgam.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A secondary and retrospective analysis of two different databases was performed: (a) 90 patients (47% female, mean (SD) age 34 (6) years) of a clinical trial to remove amalgam fillings who attribute their health complaints to dental amalgam, and (b) 116 patients (62% female, mean (SD) age 37 (8) years) from an outpatient unit for environmental medicine who attribute their symptoms to environmental sources other than amalgam.

RESULTS

The samples differed in age, sex, and educational level. No statistically significant differences between either of the groups were found in overall psychological distress, intensity of the symptoms, or in numbers of self-reported symptoms in the Symptom Check List after controlling for age, sex, and education (Mean Global Severity Index 0.62 versus 0.63). Patients from the amalgam group showed mean values for private and public self-consciousness similar to the population norm, while patients from the comparison group had statistically significantly decreased mean values. While the amalgam group more frequently reported mental symptoms, patients from the comparison group had a higher prevalence of somatic symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

The results showed some differences in symptomatology, while general psychological distress was similar in both groups, indicating no strong evidence for an amalgam-specific syndrome.

Interpretations of and memory for bodily sensations during public speaking

This study examined whether negative interpretations of bodily sensations result in a memory bias for such sensations under conditions of social evaluation. Undergraduate students (N=77) were connected to equipment which they were told would measure their physiology and were trained on how to monitor their physiology via computer feedback as they gave a video-taped speech. Approximately half of participants (n=41) were told that their physiological feedback provides important information about their performance, and those remaining (n=36) were told that their physiological feedback is unrelated to their performance. Participants were subsequently given free recall and recognition tests for the computer feedback. Results suggest that believing physiological feedback is related to quality of performance resulted in enhanced memory for all information about bodily sensations. Furthermore, heightened social anxiety was associated with enhanced processing of stimuli associated with increasing physiology whereas lower social anxiety was associated with enhanced processing of stimuli associated with stable physiology when the belief that physiological feedback provides important information about performance is activated. Results are discussed in relation to cognitive-behavioural models of social anxiety.

Influence of attention to somatic information on emotional and autonomic responses

The present study aimed to investigate the dissociable effects of two forms of self-focus on emotional and autonomic responses. One form is suppression, which includes the suppression of heart rate and self-evaluation of performance. The other is observation, which includes attention to one's own heart rate with no suppression and no evaluation. 26 undergraduate and graduate students from the Nagoya University campus (13 men, 13 women), ages 18 to 24 years (M = 20.7, SD = 1.6) were recruited. Participants were provided with their own heart rate as feedback for 5 min., during which participants conducted a self-focus manipulation. Several days after the experimental session for one condition, the same participants conducted another experimental session for the other condition. Instruction to suppress enhanced physiological arousal and subsequent negative emotions; however, instruction to observe did not increase physiological arousal or negative emotions.

Personality traits and anxiety symptoms: The multilevel trait predictor model

Investigation of relations between personality traits and mental disorders can inform key issues in psychopathology research. However, it has been hindered by extensive correlations among the traits. Building on studies of affect-psychopathology relations (e.g., the tripartite model), an organizational framework is proposed to solve this problem with respect to anxiety pathology. To test the resulting model, associations between four traits (negative emotionality, positive emotionality, anxiety sensitivity, and negative evaluation sensitivity) and four anxiety symptoms (chronic worry, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, panic, and social anxiety) were examined in an undergraduate sample (N=907). Confirmatory factor analyses supported operationalizations of the constructs in this study. Examination of the trait-symptom links using hierarchical multiple regression analyses supported most of the predicted relations. Specifically, negative emotionality emerged as a general predictor that was significantly related to all four symptom dimensions. In contrast, anxiety sensitivity was specific to panic and worry, whereas negative evaluation sensitivity was specific to social anxiety and worry. Finally, positive emotionality was uniquely related to social anxiety. The model accounted for a substantial amount of variance in the symptoms and almost all of the covariation among them.

Emotional inhibition and personality traits: a comparison of women with anorexia, bulimia, and normal controls

BACKGROUND

Clinical experience has suggested that women with eating disorders (ED) are prone to displace negative feelings about the self onto the body. This study sought to evaluate these clinical observations by examining emotional inhibition and personality traits in women with ED.

METHODS

Female inpatients and intensive outpatients diagnosed with anorexia nervosa (N = 14) or bulimia nervosa (N = 11) were compared to women without an ED (N = 31).

RESULTS

The results of the study indicate that participants with ED inhibit their expression of both positive and negative emotions, even after controlling for neuroticism. Women with ED also reported higher levels of hostility and neuroticism. In addition, participants with ED were less aware of their inner thoughts and feelings (private self-consciousness) and had a heightened awareness of the thoughts and expectations of others (public self-consciousness). Finally, women with bulimia nervosa reported higher levels of emotional inhibition, neuroticism, public self-consciousness, and hostility when compared to women with anorexia nervosa.

CONCLUSIONS

These data suggest that individuals who are not able to identify, and consequently, express their emotions may learn to handle emotional distress, interpersonal conflicts, and unexpressed hostility by turning their expression and lack of insight inward (viz., feeling "fat").

Attention processes in the maintenance and treatment of social phobia: hypervigilance, avoidance and self-focused attention

Four domains of evidence regarding the relationship between attention and social phobia are reviewed: (1) possible maintaining factor, (2) causal relationship, (3) specific relationship and (4) mediator of change during treatment. Two areas of research are covered and integrated: vigilance-avoidance of social threat stimuli and self-focused attention. There is empirical support for these processes as possible maintaining factors that are specific to patients and non-clinical samples with high levels of social anxiety. There is reasonable evidence to promote the use of attentional strategies in the treatment of social phobia, although better controlled studies are required. We propose six overlapping mechanisms that could be responsible for change: reduced vigilance; reduced avoidance; reduced self-focused attention; mindfulness; increased attentional control; increased self-esteem.

Internal versus external attention in social anxiety: an investigation using a novel paradigm

Several cognitive models propose that social anxiety is associated with increased self-focused attention. Indirect evidence for this hypothesis has been provided by questionnaire studies, and by cognitive psychology paradigms that have demonstrated reduced processing of external information during feared social-evaluative situations. However, no studies have simultaneously measured on-line attention to internal and external events. A probe detection task that aimed to measure the balance of attention between internal and external stimuli was developed. High and low socially anxious individuals were instructed to detect two probes. The external probe was superimposed on pictures of faces (happy, neutral, angry) or household objects that were presented on a VDU. The 'internal' probe was a pulse to the finger which participants were led to believe represented significant changes in their physiology. Compared to low speech anxious individuals, high speech anxious individuals showed an internal attentional bias, that was specific to conditions of social-evaluative threat.