443 research outputs found
Using Cognitive Bias Modification-Appraisal Training to Manipulate Appraisals about the Self and the World in Analog Trauma
No full textsponsorship: Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. Felix Wurtz is supported by a doctoral scholarship of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. Marcella L. Woud is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) via the Emmy Noether Programme (WO 2018/3-1) and the Daimler and Benz Foundation (32-12/4). The funding bodies had no role in the design of the study, the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data, or the preparation of the manuscript. (Projekt DEAL, Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)|WO 2018/3-1, Daimler and Benz Foundation|32-12/4)status: Publishe
Supplemental Material – Making the leap: From experimental psychopathology to clinical trials
No full textSupplemental Material for Making the leap: From experimental psychopathology to clinical trials by Simon E Blackwell and Marcella L Woud in Journal of Experimental Psychopathology</p
Supplemental Material - The world dangerous it is—The scrambled sentences task in the context of posttraumatic stress symptoms
No full textSupplemental Material for The world dangerous it is—The scrambled sentences task in the context of posttraumatic stress symptoms by Felix Würtz, Simon E Blackwell, Jürgen Margraf and Marcella L Woud in Journal of Experimental Psychopathology</p
Modification of cognitive biases related to posttraumatic stress: A systematic review and research agenda
Full text linkCognitive models of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) postulate that cognitive biases in attention, interpretation, and memory represent key factors involved in the onset and maintenance of PTSD. Developments in experimental research demonstrate that it may be possible to manipulate such biases by means of Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM). In the present paper, we summarize studies assessing cognitive biases in posttraumatic stress to serve as a theoretical and methodological background. However, our main aim was to provide an overview of the scientific literature on CBM in (analogue) posttraumatic stress. Results of our systematic literature review showed that most CBM studies targeted attentional and interpretation biases (attention: five studies; interpretation: three studies), and one study modified memory biases. Overall, results showed that CBM can indeed modify cognitive biases and affect (analog) trauma symptoms in a training congruent manner. Interpretation bias procedures seemed effective in analog samples, and memory bias training proved preliminary success in a clinical PTSD sample. Studies of attention bias modification provided more mixed results. This heterogeneous picture may be explained by differences in the type of population or variations in the CBM procedure. Therefore, we sketched a detailed research agenda targeting the challenges for CBM in posttraumatic stress
Reducing analogue trauma symptoms by computerized reappraisal training: Considering a Cognitive prophylaxis?
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116645.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)Background and objectives
Distressing intrusions are a hallmark of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Dysfunctional appraisal of these symptoms may exacerbate the disorder, and conversely may lead to further intrusive memories. This raises the intriguing possibility that learning to ‘reappraise’ potential symptoms more functionally may protect against such symptoms. Woud, Holmes, Postma, Dalgleish, and Mackintosh (2012) found that ‘reappraisal training’ when delivered after an analogue stressful event reduced later intrusive memories and other posttraumatic symptoms. The present study aimed to investigate whether reappraisal training administered before a stressful event is also beneficial.
Methods
Participants first received positive or negative reappraisal training (CBM-App training) using a series of scripted vignettes. Subsequently, participants were exposed to a film with traumatic content. Effects of the CBM-App training procedure were assessed via three distinct outcome measures, namely: (a) post-training appraisals of novel ambiguous vignettes, (b) change scores on the Post Traumatic Cognitions Inventory (PTCI), and (c) intrusive symptom diary.
Results
CBM-App training successfully induced training-congruent appraisal styles. Moreover, those trained positively reported less distress arising from their intrusive memories of the trauma film during the subsequent week than those trained negatively. However, the induced appraisal bias only partly affected PTCI scores.
Limitations
Participants used their own negative event as a reference for the PTCI assessments. The events may have differed regarding their emotional impact. There was no control group.
Conclusions
CBM-App training has also some beneficial effects when applied before a stressful event and may serve as a cognitive prophylaxis against trauma-related symptomatology.4 p
The relationship between vividness of positive future-oriented mental imagery, anhedonia, and positive affect
No full textThe vividness with which people can imagine positive events happening in their future has been linked to a number of different aspects of psychopathology and wellbeing. These relationships are hypothesised to arise from the role of mental imagery in thinking about the future and its close links to emotion. The current research investigated the associations between the vividness of positive future-oriented imagery, anhedonia, and positive affect via two cross-sectional studies. In a first study, a predominantly healthy young student sample (N = 79) completed measures of imagery, anhedonia, positive affect, and both questionnaire and lab-based measures of a range of aspects of psychopathology and wellbeing. A second study used baseline data from a clinical trial that recruited a transdiagnostic sample (N = 58) from two inpatient clinics. Results indicated a strong positive relationship between positive future-oriented imagery vividness and the experience of positive affect in both samples, whereas relationships between positive imagery vividness and anhedonia were also present but weaker. These results can inform further research to understand the role of mental imagery in both psychopathology and healthy functioning, and how it can be harnessed in interventions to reduce symptoms of psychopathology and increase wellbeing
Positive, negative, or all relative? Evaluative conditioning of ambivalence
No full textGlaser T, Woud ML, Iskander ML, Schmalenstroth V, Thuy My Vo TMV. Positive, negative, or all relative? Evaluative conditioning of ambivalence. Acta Psychologica. 2018;185:155-165.In evaluative conditioning (EC), the pairing of a positively or negatively valenced stimulus (US) with a neutral stimulus (CS) leads to a corresponding change in liking of the CS. EC research so far has concentrated on using unambiguously positive or negative USs. However, attitude objects are often ambivalent, i.e., can simultaneously possess positive and negative features. The present research investigated whether ambivalence can be evaluatively conditioned and whether contingency awareness moderates this effect. In two studies, positive, negative, neutral, and ambivalent USs were paired with affectively neutral CSs. Results showed standard EC effects that were moderated by contingency awareness. Most interestingly, EC effects were also obtained for the ambivalent USs, indicating that ambivalence can indeed be conditioned. However, contingency awareness seemed to play a lesser role in ambivalence conditioning. Ambivalence EC effects were obtained on subjective and objective direct measures of ambivalence as well as on a more indirect measure
The effect of positive mental imagery versus positive verbal thoughts on anhedonia
No full textAbstract Anhedonia, the loss of interest in and pleasure from previously enjoyable activities is a core symptom of depression and presents a major challenge to treatments. Interventions involving positive mental imagery generation have been suggested to reduce anhedonia. However, it is not clear whether the imagery component of such interventions is crucial for these effects. The current study aimed to test this by contrasting repeated generation of positive mental imagery versus positive verbal thoughts. Over a one‐week period, 53 mildly anhedonic adults completed five sessions of a computerized training program involving the generation of either positive images or positive sentences. Compared to participants who generated sentences, participants who generated imagery showed greater improvements from pre‐ to post‐training on an individualized multi‐facetted measure of anhedonia (the Dimensional Anhedonia Rating Scale), but not on standardized measures of anticipated pleasure (the Snaith‐Hamilton Pleasure Scale), depression symptoms, or positive affect. The present study supports the proposal that positive imagery could provide a route to improve anhedonia, with generation of imagery in particular (as opposed to positive thoughts in general) as an important driving mechanism for these effects. This has theoretical and clinical implications for understanding the role of imagery in anhedonia and its treatment
The influence of verbalization versus imagery on trauma memory
No full texthttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100006254 Ruhr University Bochumhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001659 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaf
A Question of Control? Examining the Role of Control Conditions in Experimental Psychopathology using the Example of Cognitive Bias Modification Research
No full textAbstractWhile control conditions are vitally important in research, selecting the optimal control condition can be challenging. Problems are likely to arise when the choice of control condition is not tightly guided by the specific question that a given study aims to address. Such problems have become increasingly apparent in experimental psychopathology research investigating the experimental modification of cognitive biases, particularly as the focus of this research has shifted from theoretical questions concerning mechanistic aspects of the association between cognitive bias and emotional vulnerability, to questions that instead concern the clinical efficacy of ‘cognitive bias modification’ (CBM) procedures. We discuss the kinds of control conditions that have typically been employed in CBM research, illustrating how difficulties can arise when changes in the types of research questions asked are not accompanied by changes in the control conditions employed. Crucially, claims made on the basis of comparing active and control conditions within CBM studies should be restricted to those conclusions allowed by the specific control condition employed. CBM studies aiming to establish clinical utility are likely to require quite different control conditions from CBM studies aiming to illuminate mechanisms. Further, conclusions concerning the clinical utility of CBM interventions cannot necessarily be drawn from studies in which the control condition has been chosen to answer questions concerning mechanisms. Appreciating the need to appropriately alter control conditions in the transition from basic mechanisms-focussed investigations to applied clinical research could greatly facilitate the translational process.</jats:p
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