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Obrębska M, Kleka P. Lexical indicators of anxiety in schizophrenia. ANXIETY, STRESS, AND COPING 2023; 36:382-397. [PMID: 35561064 DOI: 10.1080/10615806.2022.2076081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/19/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Anxiety is a dominant emotion in schizophrenia. It is most often diagnosed by questionnaire-based methods. In this study, it was decided to analyse the utterances of patients with schizophrenia for the occurrence of lexical indicators of anxiety, which are a good predictor of experienced anxiety and lie beyond the subject's control. DESIGN The indicators most frequently described in the literature and considered to be of the most significant diagnostic value were selected: first-person pronouns and verbs; causal expressions and conjunctions; affirmative and negative particles; and dogmatic expressions. It was assumed that more of these would appear in the utterances of people with schizophrenia than in the utterances of healthy subjects. METHODS The study was conducted on 130 patients with paranoid schizophrenia and 130 healthy subjects. They were asked to describe five pictures. RESULTS In all verbal indicators of anxiety (except for negative particles) patients with positive schizophrenia attained the highest values, differing significantly from the results for the control groups. CONCLUSION This result is consistent with the subject literature, which emphasizes the high level of anxiety in schizophrenia, especially in its first phase, when the generative symptoms of the illness predominate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monika Obrębska
- Faculty of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
| | - Paweł Kleka
- Faculty of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
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Thieffry L, Olyff G, Pioda L, Detandt S, Bazan A. Running away from phonological ambiguity, we stumble upon our words: Laboratory induced slips show differences between highly and lowly defensive people. Front Hum Neurosci 2023; 17:1033671. [PMID: 37063107 PMCID: PMC10091465 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1033671] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2022] [Accepted: 02/03/2023] [Indexed: 03/31/2023] Open
Abstract
IntroductionFreud proposed that slips of the tongue, including apparently simple ones, always have a sense and constitute « a half-success and a half-failure » compromise resulting from defensive mechanisms.Material and methodsA total of 55 subjects participated in a French adaptation of the Spoonerisms of Laboratory Induced Predisposition or SLIP-technique including 32 “neutral” and 32 taboo spoonerisms and measures of defensiveness. In accordance with a psychoanalytical and empirically supported distinction, we considered two kinds of defenses: elaborative or primary process and inhibitory or secondary process defenses, which were operationalized with the GeoCat and the Phonological-Nothing (PN) WordList, respectively. The GeoCat is a validated measure of primary process mentation and the PN WordList was shown to measure the defensive avoidance of language ambiguity.ResultsParticipants produced 37 slips, with no significant difference in the number of “neutral” and taboo slips. The GeoCat and the N/PN parameters explained 30% of the variance in the production of parapraxes, confirming the defensive logics of slips. When dividing the population into lowly and highly defensive participants (with the Marlowe Crowne Social Desirability scale), primary process mentation appears as a baseline default defense, but only highly defensive participants mobilize an additional inhibitory secondary process type of defense. Taking into account the a priori difference between taboo and “neutral” parapraxes, highly defensive participants made 2.7 times more taboo parapraxes than lowly defensive participants. However, if “neutral” parapraxes in both subgroups followed the same logic as the total group of parapraxes (significant contribution of primary process mentation in lowly defensives and of primary and secondary process mentation in highly defensives), these measures had no contribution to explain the occurrence of taboo parapraxes.ConclusionWe propose that Motley et al.’s prearticulatory editor, ensuring the censorship over taboo parapraxes, is an external instance of inhibition, proximal to uttering, equivalent to the censorship between the systems Preconscious and Conscious in Freud’s metapsychology. By contrast, the defenses measured in this research are internal, intimate control systems, probing for the censorship between the systems Unconscious and Preconscious, this is, for repression. This study contributes to support a psychodynamic explanatory model for the production of parapraxes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lola Thieffry
- Laboratoire InterPsy (UR 4432), Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France
- Observatoire du Sida et des Sexualités, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
- *Correspondence: Lola Thieffry,
| | - Giulia Olyff
- Observatoire du Sida et des Sexualités, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Lea Pioda
- Parhélie Asbl, Institution Psychiatrique, Brussels, Belgium
- Faculté des Sciences Psychologiques et de l’Éducation, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Sandrine Detandt
- Observatoire du Sida et des Sexualités, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
- Faculté des Sciences Psychologiques et de l’Éducation, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Ariane Bazan
- Laboratoire InterPsy (UR 4432), Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France
- Observatoire du Sida et des Sexualités, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
- Centre de Recherche en Psychologie Clinique, Psychopathologie et Psychosomatique, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
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Moriya J. The maladaptive aspect of observing: Interactive effects of mindfulness and alexithymia on trait anxiety. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-019-00585-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Davis PA, Gustafsson H, Callow N, Woodman T. Written Emotional Disclosure Can Promote Athletes' Mental Health and Performance Readiness During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Front Psychol 2020; 11:599925. [PMID: 33329269 PMCID: PMC7728796 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.599925] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2020] [Accepted: 11/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The widespread effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have negatively impacted upon many athletes’ mental health and increased reports of depression as well as symptoms of anxiety. Disruptions to training and competition schedules can induce athletes’ emotional distress, while concomitant government-imposed restrictions (e.g., social isolation, quarantines) reduce the availability of athletes’ social and emotional support. Written Emotional Disclosure (WED) has been used extensively in a variety of settings with diverse populations as a means to promote emotional processing. The expressive writing protocol has been used to a limited extent in the context of sport and predominantly in support of athletes’ emotional processing during injury rehabilitation. We propose that WED offers an evidence-based treatment that can promote athletes’ mental health and support their return to competition. Research exploring the efficacy of the expressive writing protocol highlights a number of theoretical models underpinning the positive effects of WED; we outline how each of these potential mechanisms can address the multidimensional complexity of the challenging circumstances arising from the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., loss of earnings, returning to training and competition). Considerations and strategies for using WED to support athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic are presented.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul A Davis
- Department of Psychology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
| | - Henrik Gustafsson
- Department of Health Sciences, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden.,Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway
| | - Nichola Callow
- School of Sport, Health, and Exercise Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom
| | - Tim Woodman
- School of Sport, Health, and Exercise Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom
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The effects of anxiety and depression on asthma control and their association with strategies for coping with stress and social acceptance. REVUE FRANÇAISE D'ALLERGOLOGIE 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.reval.2020.05.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Verbal fluency and emotional expression in young women differing in their styles of coping with threatening stimuli. CURRENT ISSUES IN PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY 2018. [DOI: 10.5114/cipp.2018.80201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
BackgroundIn our study we decided to examine whether anxiety defined in personality terms and various emotional states, including the state of fear, measured in two ways – by means of subjective rating scales and by means of a more objective method, the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) developed by Ekman, Friesen, and Hager – would affect emotional verbal fluency understood as the number of words generated in answer to a question about the most liked and disliked trait of one’s personality.Participants and procedureThe participants in the screening test were 570 students; in this sample, we selected 90 women and classified each of them into one of three groups – high-anxious individuals (n = 23), low-anxious individuals (n = 41), and repressors (n = 26) – distinguished based on the criteria proposed by Weinberger and colleagues. The research task, whose aim was to induce emotions, consisted in delivering a speech lasting a few minutes in front of an audience and a video camera.ResultsWe obtained evidence of a significant association between emotional states and verbal fluency. Fear recognized by means of the FACS turned out to be the emotion that was the most strongly correlated with overall verbal fluency.
We found no significant differences in fluency between individuals differing in terms of trait anxiety: low-anxious, high-anxious, and repressors.ConclusionsThe structure of results shows that the participants’ loquaciousness in the situation of speaking in front of an audience was more strongly influenced by currently experienced emotions than by the stable personality trait of anxiety.
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Mohiyeddini C. Repressive coping among British college women: A potential protective factor against body image concerns, drive for thinness, and bulimia symptoms. Body Image 2017; 22:39-47. [PMID: 28601701 DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2017.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2015] [Revised: 04/04/2017] [Accepted: 04/06/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Repressive coping, as a means of preserving a positive self-image, has been widely explored in the context of dealing with self-evaluative cues. The current study extends this research by exploring whether repressive coping is associated with lower levels of body image concerns, drive for thinness, bulimic symptoms, and higher positive rational acceptance. A sample of 229 female college students was recruited in South London. Repressive coping was measured via the interaction between trait anxiety and defensiveness. The results of moderated regression analysis with simple slope analysis show that compared to non-repressors, repressors reported lower levels of body image concerns, drive for thinness, and bulimic symptoms while exhibiting a higher use of positive rational acceptance. These findings, in line with previous evidence, suggest that repressive coping may be adaptive particularly in the context of body image.
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Affiliation(s)
- Changiz Mohiyeddini
- Department of Applied Psychology, Northeastern University, 413 International Village, 360 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115, USA.
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Uziel L. Rethinking Social Desirability Scales: From Impression Management to Interpersonally Oriented Self-Control. PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2015; 5:243-62. [PMID: 26162157 DOI: 10.1177/1745691610369465] [Citation(s) in RCA: 204] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Social desirability (specifically, impression management) scales are widely used by researchers and practitioners to screen individuals who bias self-reports in a self-favoring manner. These scales also serve to identify individuals at risk for psychological and health problems. The present review explores the evidence with regard to the ability of these scales to achieve these objectives. In the first part of the review, I present six criteria to evaluate impression management scales and conclude that they are unsatisfactory as measures of response style. Next, I explore what individual differences in impression management scores actually do measure. I compare two approaches: a defensiveness approach, which argues that these scales measure defensiveness that stems from vulnerable self-esteem, and an adjustment approach, which suggests that impression management is associated with personal well-being and interpersonal adjustment. Data from a wide variety of fields including social behavior, affect and well-being, health, and job performance tend to favor the adjustment approach. Finally, I argue that scales measuring impression management should be redefined as measures of interpersonally oriented self-control that identify individuals who demonstrate high levels of self-control, especially in social contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liad Uziel
- Psychology Department, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
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Anger expression styles in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: associations with anxiety, paranoia, emotion recognition, and trauma history. J Nerv Ment Dis 2014; 202:853-8. [PMID: 25386763 DOI: 10.1097/nmd.0000000000000212] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Heightened levels of anger and dysregulated expression of anger have been associated with poorer outcomes and treatment response for persons with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Less is known, however, about the psychological processes that determine the extent to which anger is expressed in a more versus less adaptive manner. To explore this issue, this study gathered reports of anger expression style in 88 persons with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder using the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory, Second Edition. The authors additionally assessed anxiety, suspiciousness, emotion recognition, self-esteem, and cumulative trauma history. Correlations and multiple regression analyses showed that outward anger control, that is, the suppression of anger, was predicted by lower levels of suspiciousness, poorer emotion recognition, and reduced anxiety. Participants who endorsed greater anxiety and had experienced more traumatic events reported a heightened tendency to express anger both inwardly and outwardly.
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Identifying indicators of defensive activity in narration about important interpersonal relations. CURRENT ISSUES IN PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY 2014. [DOI: 10.5114/cipp.2014.46231] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
<b>Background</b><br />
One of the main components of psychological conversation that influence communication is psychological defensiveness.
In the paper I propose processual – situational understanding of defensiveness, and its measurement based on coding system. Preliminary results on link between personality traits and defensiveness in people’s narratives are presented as well.<br />
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<b>Participants and procedure</b><br />
To test proposed coding system, study was conducted with participants presenting different levels of personality organization’s (borderline: n = 35, 20 women, M = 26.09, SD = 4.82, neurotic: n = 29, 24 women, M = 25.90, SD = 5.25, integrated: n = 31, 26 women, M = 21.94, SD = 1.69). Correlation method was applied (Borderline Personality Inventory, Neuroticism Scale, Emotion Control Inventory), as well as narrative’s interviews. Participants’ statements were coded by competent judges (defensiveness and coherence of narratives), and by automatic lexical analyses (descriptive indicators).<br />
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<b>Results</b><br />
Results indicate that proposed defensiveness coding system is a set of heterogeneous indicators, and four groups of indicators could be extracted. Correlations between those indicators and expression control (positive relation), and coherence of narratives (negative relation). Moreover, differences between borderline participants and neurotic ones emerged.<br />
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<b>Conclusions</b><br />
Proposed coding system seems to be a heterogeneous but useful tool for assessing defensiveness during psychological interviews. It could be applied as an element of a procedural control measures, directed to test the reliability of psychological conversation.
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Chen Q, He Y, Alden DL. Social Presence in Service Failure: Why It Might not be a Bad Thing. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2014. [DOI: 10.1007/s40547-014-0023-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Ros L, Ricarte JJ, Serrano JP, Nieto M, Aguilar MJ, Latorre JM. Overgeneral Autobiographical Memories: Gender Differences in Depression. APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2014. [DOI: 10.1002/acp.3013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Laura Ros
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine; University of Castilla La Mancha; Albacete Spain
- Research Institute of Neurological Disabilities; University of Castilla La Mancha; Albacete Spain
| | - Jorge J. Ricarte
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine; University of Castilla La Mancha; Albacete Spain
- Research Institute of Neurological Disabilities; University of Castilla La Mancha; Albacete Spain
| | - Juan P. Serrano
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine; University of Castilla La Mancha; Albacete Spain
- Research Institute of Neurological Disabilities; University of Castilla La Mancha; Albacete Spain
| | - Marta Nieto
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine; University of Castilla La Mancha; Albacete Spain
- Research Institute of Neurological Disabilities; University of Castilla La Mancha; Albacete Spain
| | - Maria J. Aguilar
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine; University of Castilla La Mancha; Albacete Spain
- Research Institute of Neurological Disabilities; University of Castilla La Mancha; Albacete Spain
| | - Jose M. Latorre
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine; University of Castilla La Mancha; Albacete Spain
- Research Institute of Neurological Disabilities; University of Castilla La Mancha; Albacete Spain
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Alston LL, Kratchmer C, Jeznach A, Bartlett NT, Davidson PSR, Fujiwara E. Self-serving episodic memory biases: findings in the repressive coping style. Front Behav Neurosci 2013; 7:117. [PMID: 24027505 PMCID: PMC3759793 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2013] [Accepted: 08/19/2013] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Individuals with a repressive coping style self-report low anxiety, but show high defensiveness and high physiological arousal. Repressors have impoverished negative autobiographical memories and are better able to suppress memory for negatively valenced and self-related laboratory materials when asked to do so. Research on spontaneous forgetting of negative information in repressors suggests that they show significant forgetting of negative items, but only after a delay. Unknown is whether increased forgetting after a delay is potentiated by self-relevance. Here we asked in three experiments whether repressors would show reduced episodic memories for negative self-relevant information when tested immediately versus after a 2-day delay. We predicted that repressors would show an exaggerated reduction in recall of negative self-relevant memories after a delay, at least without anew priming of this information. We tested a total of 300 participants (experiment 1: N = 95, experiment 2: N = 106; experiment 3: N = 99) of four types: repressors, high-anxious (HA), low-anxious, and defensive HA individuals. Participants judged positive and negative adjectives with regard to self-descriptiveness, serving as incidental encoding. Surprise free-recall was conducted immediately after encoding (experiment 1), after a 2-day delay (experiment 2), or after a 2-day delay following priming via a lexical decision task (experiment 3). In experiment 1, repressors showed a bias against negative self-relevant words in immediate recall. Such a bias was neither observed in delayed recall without priming nor in delayed recall with priming. Thus, counter to our hypothesis, negative information that was initially judged as self-relevant was not forgotten at a higher rate after a delay in repressors. We suggest that repressors may reinterpret initially negative information in a more positive light after a delay, and therefore no longer experience the need to bias their recall after a delay.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren L Alston
- Centre for Neuroscience, University of Alberta , Edmonton, AB , Canada
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Gebhardt C, Rose N, Mitte K. Fact or artefact: an item response theory analysis of median split based repressor classification. Br J Health Psychol 2013; 19:36-51. [PMID: 23379417 DOI: 10.1111/bjhp.12029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2012] [Revised: 01/08/2012] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Many studies have investigated the phenomenon of repression. Repressors are defined as individuals who deny or avoid the experience of negative affect. A common method for the identification of repressors is a median split approach using questionnaires that measure anxiety and social desirability. The present study aimed to evaluate this most frequently used procedure using a psychometric model. DESIGN We applied item response theory using model assumptions comparable with those of the median split approach to detect repressors and examine the appropriateness of the median split procedure. METHODS A mixed sample of 655 students and members of the general public completed the two scales usually used to identify repressors, namely the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. RESULTS Employing item response theory mixture-model analyses, we were unable to replicate the median split solution on a latent level. CONCLUSIONS Our results did not support the identification of repressors via dichotomization of the two scales. The median split approach does not appear to detect repressors satisfactorily. The implications of the results for the conceptualization and assessment of repressors are discussed.
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Paget V, Consoli S, Carton S. Traduction et validation française du questionnaire de répression de Weinberger. ANNALES MEDICO-PSYCHOLOGIQUES 2010. [DOI: 10.1016/j.amp.2009.09.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Smeets T, Giesbrecht T, Raymaekers L, Shaw J, Merckelbach H. Autobiographical integration of trauma memories and repressive coping predict post-traumatic stress symptoms in undergraduate students. Clin Psychol Psychother 2010; 17:211-8. [PMID: 19701880 DOI: 10.1002/cpp.644] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
What differentiates those who are able to adapt well to adverse life events (i.e., persons who are resilient) from those who are not (e.g., persons who develop post-traumatic stress symptoms)? Previous work suggests that enhanced autobiographical integration of trauma memories is associated with more severe post-traumatic stress symptoms. Extending this line of work, the present study looked at whether the integration of trauma memories, repressive coping and cognitive reactivity are related to post-traumatic stress symptomatology following negative life events among otherwise healthy young adults (N = 213). Results show that while enhanced integration of trauma memories and high levels of dissociation are related to elevated levels of post-traumatic stress, people who generally engage in repressive coping report fewer post-traumatic stress symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom Smeets
- Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
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Scholes B, Martin CR. Could repressive coping be a mediating factor in the symptom profile of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia? J Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs 2010; 17:403-10. [PMID: 20584237 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2850.2009.01537.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Despite a relatively high prevalence, and the enduring patronage of the disorder by psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry, innovative conceptualization of schizophrenia in a client-empowering and quality of life-enhancing way appears to represent a vacuum within the clinical agenda, certainly taking second place to 'patient management'. However, against this bland background of medicalization of what is clearly a poorly understood and complex multifactorial syndrome, innovative treatment approaches aimed at symptom control, in particular, the stress vulnerability model (SVM), have been developed. However, the SVM is an incomplete model of patient experience and says little of aetiological note. One area of psychological function that may give further insight into the symptom experience associated with schizophrenia within the context of stress vulnerability concerns the mechanisms of repression. Ironically, the notion of repression will for many represent the epitome of nonevidence-based psychiatric theory and related psychodynamic therapy practice. However, more contemporary work within the psychological literature has aimed to make the concept both measurable and observable. No longer occluded by the context of psychoanalysis, cognitive science accounts of repression may be of value in facilitating understanding of the variability and predictability of symptoms of schizophrenia and may provide a dimension of therapeutic engagement allied to the SVM.
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Affiliation(s)
- B Scholes
- School of Health, Nursing and Midwifery, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley, UK
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Nelson KL, Bein E, Huemer J, Ryst E, Steiner H. Listening for avoidance: narrative form and defensiveness in adolescent memories. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 2009; 40:561-73. [PMID: 19452274 DOI: 10.1007/s10578-009-0144-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2008] [Accepted: 05/04/2009] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
We describe a linguistic clue to speakers' states of mind that has utility for psychotherapists and counselors, and summarize the theoretical and empirical support for using this clue in clinical practice. Specifically, we posit that the degree to which people relate stressful episodes from their lives as a chronological sequence of events is negatively associated with the extent to which they self-protectively avoid experiencing negative affect. We review relevant discussions and findings from linguistics and psychology, and then present a new study that replicates previous research. In this study of the relationship between defensive avoidance and the narrative structure of stressful memories in non-clinical adolescents, 168 high school students spoke for 10 min into a tape recorder about "your most stressful life event." Transcribed interviews were analyzed for narrative immersion, the extent to which the past is retold in chronological order, using a method adopted from Labov and Waletzky. A negative association was found between narrative immersion and avoidance (as operationalized by scores on the Marlowe Crowne Social Desirability Scale). Listening for narrative immersion in the speech of clients discussing past stressful times may therefore represent a useful tool in exploring defensive avoidance of stressful episodic memories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristin L Nelson
- Department of Psychology, McDaniel College, Westminster, MD 21157-4390, USA.
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Hofmann SG, Korte KJ, Suvak MK. The Upside of Being Socially Anxious: Psychopathic Attributes and Social Anxiety are Negatively Associated. JOURNAL OF SOCIAL AND CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY 2009; 28:714-727. [PMID: 19777142 PMCID: PMC2748873 DOI: 10.1521/jscp.2009.28.6.714] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Psychopathy is characterized by a lack of concern for other people and social norms. In contrast, individuals with high social anxiety are overly concerned about the approval of others and violating social norms. Therefore, we hypothesized that social anxiety is negatively associated with psychopathic attributes, with males being more psychopathic than females. In order to test this hypothesis, we administered self-report measures of social anxiety, psychopathic attributes, and academic misconduct as an index of adherence to social norms to a sample of 349 undergraduate college students (244 females and 105 males). Males had more psychopathic attributes than females. Social anxiety and psychopathic attributes showed a weak but significant negative correlation in the total sample and also in the subgroup of males and females. Psychopathic attributes were further positively associated with academic misconduct behaviors among females, but not among males. These findings are consistent with the notion that social anxiety and psychopathic attributes are negatively associated.
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Mendolia M, Baker GA. Attentional mechanisms associated with repressive distancing. JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN PERSONALITY 2008. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jrp.2007.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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Elfant E, Burns JW, Zeichner A. Repressive coping style and suppression of pain-related thoughts: Effects on responses to acute pain induction. Cogn Emot 2008. [DOI: 10.1080/02699930701483927] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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Giese-Davis J, Conrad A, Nouriani B, Spiegel D. Exploring Emotion-Regulation and Autonomic Physiology in Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients: Repression, Suppression, and Restraint of Hostility. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2008; 44:226-237. [PMID: 18461119 DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2007.08.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
We examined relationships between three emotion-regulation constructs and autonomic physiology in metastatic breast cancer patients (N = 31). Autonomic measures are not often studied in breast cancer patients and may provide evidence of an increase in allostatic load. Patients included participated as part of a larger clinical trial of supportive-expressive group therapy. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate were assessed at a semi-annual follow-up. We averaged 3 resting assessments and used measures of Repression, Suppression, Restraint of Hostility, and Body Mass Index as predictors of autonomic response. We found that higher repression was significantly associated with higher diastolic blood pressure, while higher restraint of hostility was significantly associated with higher systolic blood pressure. A repressive emotion regulation style may be a risk factor for higher sympathetic activation possibly increasing allostatic load, while restraint of hostility may be a protective factor for women with metastatic breast cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janine Giese-Davis
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, 401 Quarry Road, Stanford, California 94305
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Richards MM, Steele RG. Children's self-reported coping strategies: the role of defensiveness and repressive adaptation. ANXIETY STRESS AND COPING 2007; 20:209-22. [PMID: 17999225 DOI: 10.1080/10615800701303298] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
This study examined differences in self-reported coping strategies across children classified according to Weinberger et al.'s (1979) adaptive style paradigm. Consistent with the larger literature, it was hypothesized that repressors (i.e. characterized by high self-reported defensiveness and low self-reported distress) would endorse fewer behaviorally and cognitively avoidant coping strategies than other adaptive style groups. Participants included 134 children, ranging in age from 10 to 13 (M=11.26, sd=.59), who completed measures of defensiveness, trait anxiety, and coping. Consistent with the hypotheses, results indicated significantly lower endorsement of avoidant coping strategies, and significantly higher endorsement of approach-oriented strategies among repressors, but no significant differences across adaptive style groups for other forms of coping. Results indicate that, consistent with other indicators of psychological functioning, the measurement of coping strategies is subject to the effects of socially desirable responding. Further, results provide evidence that measures of coping may be contaminated by items reflecting adjustment problems.
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Derakshan N, Eysenck MW, Myers LB. Emotional information processing in repressors: The vigilance–avoidance theory. Cogn Emot 2007. [DOI: 10.1080/02699930701499857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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Steiner H, Erickson SJ, MacLean P, Medic S, Plattner B, Koopman C. Relationship between defenses, personality, and affect during a stress task in normal adolescents. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 2007; 38:107-19. [PMID: 17356922 DOI: 10.1007/s10578-007-0046-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2006] [Accepted: 01/05/2007] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Although there are extensive data on the relationship between personality and stress reactivity in adults, there is little comparable empirical research with adolescents. This study examines the simultaneous relationships between long term functioning (personality, defenses) and observed stress reactivity (affect) in adolescents. METHODS High school students (N = 169; mean age 16; 73 girls) were asked to participate in two conditions of the Stress Induced Speech Task (SIST): Free Association and Stressful Situation. Immature and mature defenses, distress and restraint personality dimensions, and negative and positive affect were examined. RESULTS Greater reported use of immature defenses was significantly associated with negative affect, whereas greater reported use of mature defenses was significantly associated with greater positive affect. Although personality style was also a significant predictor of negative affect across two out of three conditions, defenses were better overall predictors of affect than were personality dimensions. Gender was also a significant predictor of negative affect, wherein girls reported more negative affect than boys. DISCUSSION Defenses and personality style predict affective response during a moderately stressful task. Immature defenses and, to a lesser extent, the distress personality dimension predict mobilization of negative affect, whereas mature defenses predict the reporting of positive affect. These results relate to processes central to psychotherapy: defensive responding, personality style, and affective reactivity during the recounting of stressful events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hans Steiner
- Center for Psychiatry and The Law, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, 401 Quarry Road, Stanford, CA 94305-5719, USA.
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Dickson JM, Bates GW. Influence of repression on autobiographical memories and expectations of the future. AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2007. [DOI: 10.1080/00049530412331283444] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Joanne M Dickson
- School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- School of Social & Behavioural Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, PO Box 218, Hawthorn, Vic, 3122, Australia, ,
| | - Glen W Bates
- School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- School of Social & Behavioural Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, PO Box 218, Hawthorn, Vic, 3122, Australia, ,
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Abstract
There is an ongoing debate about how best to conceptualize the unconscious. Early psychodynamic views employed theories influenced by physics to explain clinical material, while subsequent cognitivist views relied on computational models of the mind to explain laboratory data. More recently, advances in cognitive-affective neuroscience have provided new insights into the workings of unconscious cognition and affect. We briefly review some of this recent work and its clinical implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan J Stein
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cape Town, South Africa
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Jørgensen MM, Zachariae R. Repressive coping style and autonomic reactions to two experimental stressors in healthy men and women. Scand J Psychol 2006; 47:137-48. [PMID: 16542356 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9450.2006.00501.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Autonomic and affective responses to two different stress tasks were measured in 45 males and 74 females, categorized as repressive, true low-anxious, true high-anxious, and defensive high-anxious. Electrodermal activity (EDA) was used as a measure of sympathetic activity and the high frequency (HF) spectral component of heart rate variability as a measure of parasympathetic activity. Contrary to our predictions, reactivity of repressors did not differ from the reactivity of true low-anxious participants. The results draw attention to previous inconsistent findings within the literature on repressive coping style and autonomic nervous system dysregulation. It is suggested that future research could benefit from the use of more consistent operationalizations of the repressive coping construct and from comparing alternative measures of repressive coping within the same study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Martini Jørgensen
- Psychooncology Research Unit, Aarhus University Hospital and Department of Psychology, Aarhus, Denmark.
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Millar M. Responses to messages about health behaviors: The influence of repressive coping. Psychol Health 2006; 21:231-45. [DOI: 10.1080/14768320500105361] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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Hoyt MA, Nemeroff CJ, Huebner DM. The effects of HIV-related thought suppression on risk behavior: Cognitive escape in men who have sex with men. Health Psychol 2006; 25:455-61. [PMID: 16846320 DOI: 10.1037/0278-6133.25.4.455] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
This study investigated the relationship between suppressing thoughts about HIV risk and several outcomes related to HIV risk, including sexual risk behavior and HIV prevention service use, in men who have sex with men (MSM). Synthesizing the ironic processing theory (D. M. Wegner, 1994) with a cognitive escape paradigm (D. J. McKiman, D. G. Ostrow, & B. Hope, 1996), it was hypothesized that thought suppression might increase risk by leading MSM to "escape" from sexual safety norms and engage in risky sex behaviors and, via a paradoxical process, increase future use of community prevention services. Results from a sample of MSM (N = 709) indicated that thought suppression was positively related to concurrent sexual risk behavior and to future use of prevention services.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael A Hoyt
- Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1104, USA.
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Thomas E, Moss-Morris R, Faquhar C. Coping with emotions and abuse history in women with chronic pelvic pain. J Psychosom Res 2006; 60:109-12. [PMID: 16380318 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2005.04.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2004] [Accepted: 04/19/2005] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate whether past abuse and the tendency to repress or suppress unwanted thoughts and emotions contribute to the experience of pain in patients with chronic pelvic pain (CPP). METHODS A group of CPP patients without endometriosis and a group with endometriosis were compared with a pain-free control group. Participants completed measures of pain, emotional repression, suppression of unwanted thoughts and emotions, and past abuse history. RESULTS Both CPP groups were more likely to be emotional suppressors when compared with the control group and reported significantly higher levels of thought suppression and abuse. Endometriosis patients were also more likely to be repressors of emotions when compared with controls. Suppression but not repression was related to higher levels of abuse and pain. CONCLUSION Suppression of unwanted thoughts and emotions and past abuse distinguishes CPP patients from healthy controls. Assisting patients to express distressing emotions may impact on pain levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ethne Thomas
- Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
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Thomsen DK, Jørgensen MM, Mehlsen MY, Zachariae R. The influence of rumination and defensiveness on negative affect in response to experimental stress. Scand J Psychol 2004; 45:253-8. [PMID: 15182244 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9450.2004.00402.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Previous experiments investigating the influence of rumination on negative affect have often manipulated the timing and content of rumination, which may be problematic as rumination is phenomenologically experienced as uncontrollable. In the present experiment, rumination was not manipulated, but measured as an individual tendency before the experiment. Furthermore, it was tested whether defensiveness would reduce the higher degree of negative affect often associated with rumination. Fifty-six participants completed questionnaires measuring rumination and defensiveness and participated in a phrase completion task, rating negative affect before and after the task. Correlational analyses showed that rumination was positively associated (p < 0.05) with affect responses (r range = 0.35-0.61), whereas defensiveness was negatively associated with affect responses (r range =-0.27-0.32). Four groups of high and low rumination and defensiveness scorers were created using median splits. An ANOVA showed that scoring high on defensiveness did not reduce the negative affect experienced by high ruminating participants.
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Zachariae R, Zachariae H, Blomqvist K, Davidsson S, Molin L, Mørk C, Sigurgeirsson B. Self-reported stress reactivity and psoriasis-related stress of Nordic psoriasis sufferers. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol 2004; 18:27-36. [PMID: 14678528 DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-3083.2004.00721.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The purpose of the study was to investigate the perceived influence of stress on psoriasis onset and disease severity in a large sample of psoriatics and to compare stress reactors and non-reactors with respect to psoriasis-related stress, disease severity, family history of psoriasis and sociodemographic factors. PATIENTS/METHODS A total of 5795 members of the Nordic psoriasis associations and 702 patients recruited from Nordic dermatologists or university clinics were asked whether their first outbreak of psoriasis occurred during times of worry and stress. They were also asked to rate the degree to which their psoriasis was influenced by stress and to complete the Psoriasis Life Stress Index, the Psoriasis Disability Index and a number of additional questions concerning sociodemographic factors. RESULTS Seventy-one per cent of the members and 66% of the patients reported that their psoriasis was exacerbated by stress, and 35% in both groups reported that the onset of their psoriasis occurred during a time of worry and stress. Stress reactors, scoring above the median on stress reactivity, reported greater disease severity, psoriasis-related stress and impairment of disease-related quality of life. They also reported more frequent use of tobacco, tranquillizers and antidepressants. More women than men were stress reactors, and stress reactors were more likely to have a family history of psoriasis. CONCLUSION Our findings confirm and extend the results of previous studies and indicate that a subgroup of psoriatics may be more psychologically reactive to their disease and its influence on everyday life. Whether this group is also physiologically more reactive to psychosocial stress remains to be investigated.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Zachariae
- Psychooncology Research Unit, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark.
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Ashkanasy NM. EMOTIONS IN ORGANIZATIONS: A MULTI-LEVEL PERSPECTIVE. RESEARCH IN MULTI LEVEL ISSUES 2004. [DOI: 10.1016/s1475-9144(03)02002-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 204] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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Bonanno GA, Noll JG, Putnam FW, O'Neill M, Trickett PK. Predicting the willingness to disclose childhood sexual abuse from measures of repressive coping and dissociative tendencies. CHILD MALTREATMENT 2003; 8:302-318. [PMID: 14604177 DOI: 10.1177/1077559503257066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Although it is generally agreed that the verbal disclosure of past childhood sexual abuse (CSA) experiences can be beneficial, CSA survivors are often reluctant to reveal such experiences. Bonanno et al. found that women with documented CSA histories who did not disclose abuse when provided an opportunity to do so were more likely to show nonverbal expressions of shame and polite smiling, relative to disclosing CSA survivors or nonabused controls. Disclosing CSA survivors, in contrast, showed greater facial expressions of disgust. The current study extended this paradigm by showing that among the same participants, CSA disclosure was associated with chronic dissociative experiences, whereas nondisclosure was associated with repressive coping. Further, repressive coping and dissociative experiences were inversely related and showed opposite patterns of facial expressions and adjustment. Repressors expressed greater negative and positive emotion and were relatively better adjusted, whereas dissociators expressed little emotion and had relatively poorer adjustment.
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Affiliation(s)
- George A Bonanno
- Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
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Repressors and memory: Effects of self-deception, impression management, and mood. JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN PERSONALITY 2003. [DOI: 10.1016/s0092-6566(02)00567-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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Barger SD. The Marlowe-Crowne affair: short forms, psychometric structure, and social desirability. J Pers Assess 2002; 79:286-305. [PMID: 12425392 DOI: 10.1207/s15327752jpa7902_11] [Citation(s) in RCA: 116] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/31/2022]
Abstract
The Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability scale (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960) is widely used to assess and control for response bias in self-report research. Several abbreviated versions of the Marlowe-Crowne scale have been proposed and adopted in psychology and medicine. In this article I evaluate the adequacy of 9 short forms using confirmatory factor analysis across 2 samples (combined N = 867). There was some evidence for the adequacy of different short forms, but model adequacy was not consistent across samples. Supplementary analyses revealed a multidimensional structure to the full Marlowe-Crowne scale and indicated that the apparent adequacy of model fit for some short forms might be a statistical artifact. Using the Marlowe-Crowne scale or its various short forms as a control for response bias is discouraged on empirical and conceptual grounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven D Barger
- Department of Psychology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff 86011, USA.
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Persson R, Karlson B, Osterberg K, Orbaek P. The meta-contrast technique: relationships with personality traits and cognitive abilities in a healthy male study sample. Scand J Psychol 2002; 43:315-24. [PMID: 12361100 DOI: 10.1111/1467-9450.00300] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
The relationship between defensive strategies as measured by the Meta-Contrast Technique (MCT) and self-reported trait anxiety, trait aggression and defensiveness, as measured by the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP), was investigated in 83 healthy men. Further aims of the study were to describe and document how a healthy and demographically well defined group of subjects responded to the MCT, and to investigate whether age, personality traits and cognitive abilities influenced the reports of picture recognition thresholds in the MCT. The results indicated no agreement between the conceptualization of anxiety as measured by the MCT and anxiety as measured by the KSP inventory. Nor was there any agreement between defensive strategies in the MCT and trait defensiveness as defined with the KSP. However, age, personality traits, and cognitive abilities all contributed to explain the variations in the threshold values of recognition of stimuli pictures, all of which are of central importance in the scoring of MCT protocols.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roger Persson
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Lund University, Sweden.
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Mendolia M. An index of self-regulation of emotion and the study of repression in social contexts that threaten or do not threaten self-concept. Emotion 2002; 2:215-32. [PMID: 12899355 DOI: 10.1037/1528-3542.2.3.215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
This research tests a model of repression (M. Mendolia, 1999; M. Mendolia, J. Moore, & A. Tesser, 1996) which specifies that the interaction of individual differences in emotional responsiveness and situational threats to self-concept contributes to one's tendency to regulate emotional responsiveness. This research demonstrates that (a) individuals regulate their autonomic activity, facial muscle activity, cognitive attention, and subjective experience during isolated and repeated exposures to self-threatening negative and positive emotional events and (b) repressive behavior can be predicted by the Index of Self-Regulation of Emotion, which complements and extends conventional categorical measures of dispositional repression. This model provides a more detailed understanding of basic mechanisms in emotion by identifying how individual differences in emotionality and particular social contexts contribute to self-regulation of emotion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marilyn Mendolia
- Department of Psychology, The University of Mississippi, University 38677, USA.
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Kline JP, Blackhart GC, Joiner TE. Sex, lie scales, and electrode caps: an interpersonal context for defensiveness and anterior electroencephalographic asymmetry. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2002. [DOI: 10.1016/s0191-8869(01)00167-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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Giese-Davis J, Koopman C, Butler LD, Classen C, Cordova M, Fobair P, Benson J, Kraemer HC, Spiegel D. Change in emotion-regulation strategy for women with metastatic breast cancer following supportive-expressive group therapy. J Consult Clin Psychol 2002; 70:916-25. [PMID: 12182275 DOI: 10.1037/0022-006x.70.4.916] [Citation(s) in RCA: 102] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Four relatively independent emotion-regulation constructs (suppression of negative affect, restraint, repression, and emotional self-efficacy) were tested as outcomes in a randomized trial of supportive-expressive group therapy for women with metastatic breast cancer. Results indicate that report of suppression of negative affect decreased and restraint of aggressive, inconsiderate, impulsive, and irresponsible behavior increased in the treatment group as compared with controls over 1 year in the group. Groups did not differ over time on repression or emotional self-efficacy. This study provides evidence that emotion-focused therapy can help women with advanced breast cancer to become more expressive without becoming more hostile. Even though these aspects of emotion-regulation appear trait-like within the control group, significant change was observed with treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janine Giese-Davis
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, California 94305-5718, USA.
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Jørgensen MM, Zacharia R. Autonomic reactivity to cognitive and emotional stress of low, medium, and high hypnotizable healthy subjects: testing predictions from the high risk model of threat perception. Int J Clin Exp Hypn 2002; 50:248-75. [PMID: 12088332 DOI: 10.1080/00207140208410102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
This study tested hypotheses derived from Wickramasekera's High Risk Model of Threat Perception (HRMTP) by comparing autonomic and affective responses to a cognitive and an emotional stress task in high, medium, and low hypnotizables. Electrodermal activity (EDA) was used as a measure of sympathetic activity, and the high frequency (HF) spectral component of heart rate variability as a measure of parasympathetic activity. High hypnotizables exhibited greater EDA at baseline and slower EDA recovery following both tasks than did medium and lows. Medium hypnotizables responded with greater decreases in normalized HF power than did highs and lows during the emotional stress task. The results suggest diminished EDA variability in high hypnotizables and the potential for HF power as an indicator of autonomic dysregulation in low and high hypnotizables, compared to mediums. The results are discussed in relation to predictions based on the HRMTP.
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE Previous literature has shown that the psychological trait of defensiveness is related to elevated sympathetic reactivity to stress and to several cardiac risk factors. The aim of this study was to examine whether these previous findings on defensiveness extend to an asthmatic population. METHODS Defensiveness was measured by the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale using a quartile split: high (upper 25%) and low (bottom 75%). Twenty-two defensive and 66 nondefensive participants with asthma were exposed to laboratory tasks (initial baseline rest period, reaction time task, and a shop accident film). RESULTS During the tasks there was evidence of lower skin conductance levels and greater respiratory sinus arrhythmia amplitudes among defensive patients with asthma. After exposure to the tasks, defensive patients with asthma showed a decline on spirometry test measures compared with nondefensive asthmatic patients, who displayed an increase. CONCLUSIONS These data confirm individual response stereotypy and suggest that defensiveness may be characterized by sympathetic hypoarousal and parasympathetic hyperarousal among patients with asthma. Future studies are needed to determine whether defensiveness is a risk factor for stress-induced bronchoconstriction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan M Feldman
- Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
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Abstract
The bereavement literature has yet to show consensus on a clear definition of normal and abnormal or complicated grief reactions. According to DSM-IV, bereavement is a stressor event that warrants a clinical diagnosis only in extreme cases when other DSM categories of psychopathology (e.g., Major Depression) are evident. In contrast, bereavement theorists have proposed a number of different types of abnormal grief reactions, including those in which grief is masked or delayed. In this article, we review empirical evidence on the longitudinal course, phenomenological features, and possible diagnostic relevance of grief reactions. This evidence was generally consistent with the DSM-IV's view of bereavement and provided little support for more complicated taxonomies. Most bereaved individuals showed moderate disruptions in functioning during the first year after a loss, while more chronic symptoms were evidenced by a relatively small minority. Further, those individuals showing chronic grief reactions can be relatively easily accommodated by existing diagnostic categories. Finally, we found no evidence to support the proposed delayed grief category. We close by suggesting directions for subsequent research.
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Affiliation(s)
- G A Bonanno
- Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University, Box 218, 525 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA.
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