Anxiety Response Patterns Research Articles

Effect of corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor1 gene variation on psychosocial stress reaction via the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in healthy adults

ObjectiveIt has been proposed that the common intronic CRHR1 SNP rs110402 is associated with anxiety and cortisol response patterns and plays a key role in vulnerability to certain mental disorders. The current study explored the effect of rs110402 genotype on psychological stress processing in healthy adults. MethodsThe Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST) was administered to 140 healthy adults (34 C carriers and 106 TT homozygotes) during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Between-group differences in self-reported stress level, whole brain activation, and cortisol levels were assessed. ResultsThe rs110402 genotype groups differed in stress-induced cortisol response and bilateral dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activity. The TT homozygotes showed greater stress-induced activation in the bilateral dACC compared to C carriers. Interestingly, dACC activity during MIST was negatively correlated with cortisol response in healthy adults. State anxiety, trait anxiety, and mental resilience did not differ between genotypes. ConclusionsCRHR1 SNP rs110402 genotype plays a role in psychosocial neural processing and cortisol response in healthy adults. The activity in dACC may mediate effect of rs110402 on psychosocial stress processing in the healthy population. Moreover, level of dACC activation may be associated with stress vulnerability.

Изучение анксиолитических свойств нового производного пиразоло[<i>c</i>]пиридина ГИЖ-72

Изучены анксиолитические свойства оригинального соединения ГИЖ-72 (4,6-диметил-2-(4-хлорфенил)-2,3-дигидро-1H-пиразоло[4,3-c]пиридин-3-он, хлоралгидрат) (20 мг/кг, внутрибрюшинно) в тестах «открытое поле» и «закапывание шариков» в сравнении с флуоксетином (20 мг/кг, внутрибрюшинно), диазепамом (1 мг/кг, внутрибрюшинно), афобазолом (1 мг/кг, внутрибрюшинно) на самцах мышей инбредных линий BALB/C и C57BL/6. В тесте «открытое поле» ГИЖ-72 проявил анксиолитический эффект, который сохранялся через 24 ч после введения и по структуре поведенческих эффектов отличался от эффектов диазепама и афобазола у мышей линии BALB/C. ГИЖ-72 уменьшал количество зарытых шариков в тесте «закапывание шариков» у мышей BALB/C и C57BL/6, и этот эффект сопоставим с эффектом флуоксетина. В условиях модели лекарственной дифференцировки «коразол (20 мг/кг) — физиологический раствор» на самцах крыс Вистар установлено, что ГИЖ-72 не ингибирует интероцептивные эффекты коразола, что свидетельствует об отсутствии у ГИЖ-72 свойств лиганда положительных модуляторных сайтов ГАМКА-рецептора.

Environmental enrichment models a naturalistic form of maternal separation and shapes the anxiety response patterns of offspring

Environmental enrichment (EE) mimics positive life experiences by providing enhanced social and physical stimulation. Placement into EE following weaning, or in later life, confers beneficial outcomes on both emotional and cognitive processes. However, anxiety-like behavior is also reported, particularly in rats exposed to enhanced housing during early development. Notably, the quality of maternal behavior affects stress regulation and emotional stability in offspring, yet the impact of environmental context on maternal care has not been thoroughly evaluated, or are the influences of EE on their offspring understood. To investigate the role of EE on these factors we analyzed the details of mother-neonate interactions, and juvenile offspring performance on several anxiety measures. Additionally, we evaluated neurochemical differences (i.e. serotonin, corticosterone, GABA, glutamate) in prefrontal cortex and hippocampus as a function of EE, Communal Nesting (CN) and Standard Care (SC). Although EE dams spent significantly less time on the nest and had lower nursing frequencies compared to SC dams, there were no differences in maternal licking/grooming. In offspring, EE increased GLUR1 level and GABA concentrations in the prefrontal cortex of both juvenile male and female rats. A similar pattern for glutamate was only observed in males. Although EE offspring spent less time on the open arms of the elevated plus maze and had faster escape latencies in a light-dark test, there were no other indications of anxiety-like behavior on these measures or when engaged in social interaction with a conspecific. In the wild, rats live in complicated and variable environments. Consequently dams must leave their nest to defend and forage, limiting their duration of direct contact. EE exposure in early development may mimic this naturalistic maternal separation, shaping parental behavior and offspring resiliency to stressors.

Pathways of fear and anxiety in endodontic patients.

To evaluate the most common pathways of fear and anxiety in patients who have had root canal treatment or are planned to have one. Six hundred and twenty-seven patients were approached to participate, of which five hundred and ninety-four patients (20-90 years) accepted. All consenting patients had a root filling or were treatment planned to have one. The survey by Ost & Hugdahl () on anxiety response patterns was modified and used. Data were presented using descriptive statistics, tested for normality using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and analysed with nonparametric anova (Kruskal-Wallis) and post hoc test. Cognitive conditioning and parental pathways seem to be the primary cause (P < 0.05) of fear and anxiety with root canal treatment. Females were significantly more likely to be influenced by indirect conditioned experiences such as informative, parental, verbal threat and vicarious pathways. The origin of patients' fears requires more attention in terms of treating endodontic-related fear and anxiety. More detailed research into the effects of demographics, causative factors and ethnicity on pathways of fear in dentistry is required to help dentists better manage patients in a multicultural society.

Learning history in fear of blushing

Two studies, investigating the learning history (i.e. traumatic conditioning experiences, vicarious learning, informational learning) of individuals with and without fear of blushing, are presented. In study 1, individuals high ( n=61) and low ( n=59) in fear of blushing completed the (revised) Phobic Origin Questionnaire [POQ; Öst, L. G., & Hugdahl, K. (1981). Acquisition of phobias and anxiety response patterns in clinical patients. Behavior Research and Therapy, 19, 439–447]. In study 2, individuals who applied for treatment for fear of blushing ( n=31) and a nonfearful, matched control group ( n=31) were interviewed with the same instrument, taking into account only specific memories. High fearful individuals reported more negative learning experiences in connection with blushing than low fearful individuals, irrespective of the type of questioning. Meanwhile, study 1 (written POQ) produced higher percentages of negative learning experiences for both high and low fearful individuals than study 2 (interview). It is concluded that the POQ interview showed a more realistic picture than the written POQ. The possible role of learning history in the acquisition of fear of blushing is discussed.

Stability of driving fear acquisition pathways over one year

The present study was conducted in response to increasing concerns about the potential unreliability of retrospective accounts in assessing the origins of fears and phobias. Some investigators [e.g. Menzies, R.G., & Clarke, J.C. (1993). The etiology of fear of heights and its relationship to severity and individual response patterns. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 31, 355–365; Kirkby, K.C., Menzies, R.G., Daniels, B.A., & Smith, K.L. (1995). Aetiology of spider phobia: Classificatory differences between two origins instruments. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33, 955–958; King, N.J., Gullone, E., & Ollendick, T.H. (1998). Etiology of childhood phobias: current status of Rachman's three pathways theory. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 297–309.] have questioned the reliability of retrospective reports at a single assessment point, although the test–retest reliability of such accounts has yet to be examined. The aim of the present study was to conduct a one-year follow-up of the subclinical driving-fearful sample studied by Taylor and Deane [Taylor, J. E., & Deane, F. P. (1999). Acquisition and severity of driving-related fears. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 37, 435–449.] to primarily investigate the stability of fear onset ascriptions and fear severity over time. 85 respondents completed a questionnaire which assessed fear origins, anxiety response patterns, and additional fear-relevant events occurring over the year. The results suggest that retrospective accounts of fear onset may be quite unstable over time, although this instability does not clearly appear to be related to intervening events, and limitations of the study make these results inconclusive. Fear-relevant negative thinking worsened over time, while physiological reactions and general anxiety remained relatively stable. The theoretical, methodological and clinical implications of the findings are discussed, along with suggestions for future research.

Acquisition and severity of driving-related fears

Rachman's theory of fear acquisition proposes that directly-conditioned fears will differ from indirectly-conditioned fears in magnitude and anxiety response patterns, however the theory has received inconsistent empirical support. The aim of the present study was to describe the fear acquisition pathways for a community sample who reported driving-related fears and to test Rachman's theory of fear acquisition. One hundred and ninety participants completed a questionnaire which assessed a variety of driving-related situations, reactions to motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) and anxiety response patterns. Professional psychological helpseeking and perceived need for treatment for driving-related fears were also assessed. Results failed to support Rachman's predictions. However, it was confirmed that respondents who had been involved in a MVA were more likely to ascribe their fears to a directly-conditioned pathway. The theoretical and methodological implications of the findings are discussed, along with suggestions for assessment of those with driving-related fears.

The convergent validity of the Phobia Origins Questionnaire (POQ): a review of the evidence

The Phobic Origins Questionnaire (POQ) [Öst, L.-G. & Hugdahl, K. (1981). Acquisition of phobias and anxiety response patterns in clinical patients. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 19, 439–447.] is the most commonly cited instrument for determining the origins of phobic anxiety and data obtained using this instrument strongly support the role of conditioning in the acquisition of fear reactions. The construct validity of the POQ in assessing episodes of conditioning has been questioned [e.g. Menzies, R. G. & Clarke, J. C. (1994). Retrospective studies of the origins of phobias: a review. Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 7, 305–318.] This paper examined the convergent validity of the POQ by comparing origins' classifications based on the POQ to classifications based on alternative instruments. The convergent validity of the POQ was found to be extremely poor. The POQ was consistently associated with a much greater likelihood of classifying the origin of fear reactions as due to direct conditioning episodes than was found using alternative instruments. The findings question the usefulness of the POQ in examining the origins of phobic anxiety.

Origins of common fears: Effects on severity, anxiety responses and memories of onset

The purpose of the present study was twofold: First, to test Rachman's (1976) theory ( Behaviour Research and Therapy, 14, 125–131) which predicts that “directly” conditioned fears will differ from “indirectly” conditioned fears in magnitude and anxiety response patterns. Secondly, to explore validity issues related to the questionnaire methodology typically used in fear acquisition research. The questionnaire comprised 3 anxiety scales and 3 fear-onset questions used in prior research, a specifically developed 36-item fear list and 2 validity-check items. One hundred and ninety-one Ss completed the questionnaire. After selecting and rank-ordering 10 fears from the fear list, Ss answered questionnaire items for their first- and then their tenth-ranked fear. Results failed to confirm Rachman's predictions: A significantly greater proportion of Ss ascribed highly-feared and moderately-feared situations or things to direct conditioning. In addition, differential anxiety response patterns were not present for different levels of fear. However, results supported the prediction that direct-conditioning ascriptions would be endorsed with greater certainty. The findings suggest that direct-conditioning experiences may be more memorable than indirect-conditioning events. The theoretical and methodological implications of the findings are discussed. It is suggested that future research either employ methodologies more suited to investigating causal relationships or that Rachman's (1976) theory be blended with an attributional account of fear acquisition.

Dose-dependent effects of intravenous lorazepam on cardiovascular activity, plasma catecholamines and psychological function during rest and mental stress

Dose-dependent effects of intravenously administered lorazepam on psychophysiological activity during rest and mental stress were studied in order to examine differential responses to doses which may induce anxiolysis or sedation. In a double-blind randomized cross-over study, nine male volunteers participated in a placebo and a lorazepam session, during which the subjects repeatedly performed a 10-min version of the Stroop Color Word Test (CWT), with 10 min of rest between the CWTs. Lorazepam was administered before each rest period in increasing doses of 0.0, 0.6, 0.13, 0.25 and 0.5 mg (total cumulative dose: 0.94 mg). Heart rate showed a dose-dependent decrease during rest with an ED50 of 0.13 mg lorazepam, while lorazepam had no effect on the cardiovascular and plasma catecholamine response magnitudes to the CWT. Subjective fatigue and reaction time increased significantly after 0.94 mg lorazepam, while at the same dose vigor decreased; state anxiety after the CWT was not influenced by lorazepam. These data show differential effects of lorazepam on cardiovascular, biochemical and psychological function. While heart rate was suppressed at low doses during rest and reaction time and subjective fatigue increased at doses which induced sedation, state anxiety and physiological response patterns to the CWT were not influenced by lorazepam.

Acquisition of blood and injection phobia and anxiety response patterns in clinical patients

The ways in which blood phobics (N = 81) and injection phobics (N = 56) had acquired their phobias were retrospectively investigated. The patients were required to answer a questionnaire concerning: (a) the origin of the phobia, with items relevant for conditioning experiences, vicarious experiences and experiences of negative information/instruction; (b) physiological reactions; (c) anticipatory anxiety; and (d) negative thoughts while in the phobic situation. In addition background data on marital and occupational status, family history of phobia, fainting history, and severity of the phobia were obtained. Furthermore, the patients' behavioral, physiological, and cognitive-subjective reactions during the behavioral test were assessed. The results showed that a majority (52%) of the patients attributed the onset of their phobias to conditioning experiences, while 24% recalled vicarious experiences, 7% instruction/ information and 17% could not remember any specific onset circumstances. There was no significant relationship between ways of acquisition and anxiety components, nor did conditioning and indirectly acquired phobias differ in severity.

The relationship between handedness, anxiety and questionnaire response patterns

State and trait anxiety were found to be unrelated to the handedness categories distinguished by Annett (1970) in a sample of volunteers (N = 385). Furthermore, mean scores for 99 male subjects did not differ significantly from those of 293 females. The mean anxiety levels in this study were much more representative of the general population than those reported in a previous similar study by Beaton & Moseley (1984). A suggestion that subjects classified as mixed-handed might show a tendency to avoid extreme responses was not supported.

Anxiety response patterns and etiological factors in dog-fearful and non-fearful subjects

Rachman's model of fear acquisition predicts that phobias with direct conditioning etiologies are associated with higher physiological arousal than phobias with indirect etiologies. Physiological. subjective and behavioral measures were obtained from dog-fearful college students and compared with a group of non-fearful controls. The two groups were divided according to the presence or absence of direct conditioning events involving dogs. Equally high proportions of fearful and non-fearful Ss reported such conditioning events. Contrary to the model's predictions, the presence of conditioning events among fearful Ss was unrelated to higher physiological arousal or behavioral indications of fear. Among the controls, the presence or absence of conditioning events was related to physiological arousal during exposure. Non-fearful Ss without conditioning events showed a slight decrease in arousal during exposure while non-fearful Ss with conditioning events showed increases in arousal equal to that of the fearful Ss. Because conditioning events were equally prevalent and associated with increased arousal in both fearful and non-fearful Ss these factors alone cannot account for the development of phobias.

Relationships among pleasure, anxiety and physiological response patterns during the sexual sequence in normal and dispermic subjects.

We examined the reported subjective level of pleasure and anxiety usually perceived during the four phases of the sexual sequence by 18 dispermic patients and 18 normal subjects. Relevant differences exist between the two groups in their perception of both emotions. The role of pleasure and anxiety in modulating some reflexive biological responses of the sexual sequence is discussed.

Acquisition of blood and dental phobia and anxiety response patterns in clinical patients

The ways in which blood phobics and dental phobics ( N = 73) had acquired their phobias were retrospectively investigated in the present study. The patients were requested to answer a questionnaire concerning: (a) the origin of the phobia, with items relevant for conditioning experiences, vicarious experiences and experiences of negative information/instruction; (b) physiological reactions; (c) anticipatory anxiety; and (d) negative thoughts while in the phobic situation. In addition background data on marital and occupational status, family history of phobia, medication, generalized anxiety and severity of the phobia were obtained. Furthermore the patients' behavioral, physiological and cognitive-subjective reactions during a behavioral test were assessed. The results showed that a large majority (61%) of the patients attributed the onset of their phobias to conditioning experiences, while 18% recalled vicarious experiences. 7% instruction/information and 14% could not remember any specific onset circumstances, there was no significant relationship between ways of acquisition and anxiety components, nor did conditioning and indirectly acquired phobias differ in severity.

Correlates of death anxiety in elderly persons.

Studied the variables related to death anxiety in the elderly. The population consisted of 122 elderly persons who resided in the community and in institutions. Questionnaires that measured demographics, support systems, health, personality, and death anxiety were administered. Multiple regression analyses with death anxiety as the criterion were performed on five subsamples of the population. The results showed very little consistency in predictors of death anxiety among the subsamples. It was concluded that death anxiety response patterns are a function of the population examined, rather than existing as general characteristics of the elderly, which explains the inconsistency of previous literature on death anxiety in elderly persons.

Acquisition of agoraphobia, mode of onset and anxiety response patterns

The ways in which 80 agoraphobic patients had acquired their phobia were investigated. The patients were requested to answer a questionnaire concerning: (a) the origin of the phobia, with items relevant for conditioning experiences, vicarious experiences and experiences of negative information/instruction; (b) physiological reactions; (c) anticipatory anxiety; (d) negative thoughts while in the phobic situation. In addition, data on mode of onset, precipitating factors, family history of phobias, marital and occupational status and severity of the phobia were obtained. The reported anxiety reaction was conceptualized in terms of the Three-Systems Model of fear and anxiety, i.e. anxiety as composed of a physiological, cognitive and behavioral component. The results showed that a large majority (81%) of the patients attributed their phobias to conditioning experiences, while 9% recalled vicarious learning, none recalled instruction/information and 10% could not recall any specific onset circumstances at all. In another classification 46% of the patients had a rapid, 36% a gradual and 18% a slow onset of their phobias. There was no relationship between either the ways of acquisition, or the modes of onset, and the anxiety components, nor did the conditioning and the indirect groups differ in severity of phobic reactions.

Acquisition of phobias and anxiety response patterns in clinical patients

The ways in which phobic patients ( N = 106; animal-, social- and claustrophobics) acquired their phobias were investigated in the present study. The results showed that a large majority (58%) of the patients attributed their phobias to conditioning experiences, while 17% recalled vicarious experiences, 10% instructions/information and 15% could not recall any specific onset circumstances. There was no clearcut relationship between the ways of acquisition and anxiety components (subjective, behavioral, physiological), nor did the conditioning and indirectly acquired phobias differ in severity. However, some interesting trends emerged in the data, showing that animal phobics who recalled conditioning experiences to a larger extent also responded physiologically. For patients with indirect onset experiences (for all three types of phobias) the reverse was true, i.e. they responded to a larger extent in a cognitive-subjective way, rather than with increased physiological arousal.

Anxiety response patterns: A comparison of clinical and analogue populations

A review of 41 clinical and 54 analogue studies was undertaken to evaluate the relationship between anxiety response channels—physiological, behavioral and cognitive. The results indicated that congruence among response channels tended to be higher for the clinical populations than for the analogue populations. The data tend best to support Hodgson and Rachman's (1974) theory that anxiety channel congruence increases as a function of intensity of the anxiety. Tentative support was found for Bernstein and Paul's (1971) assertion that analogue and clinical subjects are sufficiently dissimilar as to obstruct the generalization of findings from one population to the other. Lastly, the congruence patterns suggest that behavioral and cognitive measures are less reliable indices of anxiety than physiological measures, especially in analogue samples.

DIAGNOSTIC POWER OF IPAT OBJECTIVE ANXIETY NEUROTICISM TESTS.

1. Research Background for the Theory of Measurement Diagnostic tests may be divided into: (1) Those constructed on hunch and later given some degree of validation against clinical signs, as with the Rorschach, Szondi, etc, and (2) those which are oriented to functional entities—anxiety, schizothyme tendency, etc—previously established by basic source trait research using correlation and computers. The present study investigates the concrete validity in practical clinical situations mainly of the latter type of test. A long series of researches (Cattell, 1950; Cattell et al, 1954; Cattell, 1957; Cattell and Scheier, 1961) has investigated the structure of anxiety and neurotic response patterns in ( a ) questionnaire, verbal self-report material, and ( b ) objective, laboratory and miniature-situational tests, henceforth called tests. (Both questionnaires and tests are objective as far as scoring is concerned, ie, they are multiple choice, stencil-scored tests, and therefore fully conspective in scoring.)