Fearful Individuals Research Articles

Anxiety sensitivity and posttraumatic stress symptoms: Associations among female Veterans with a history of military sexual trauma

ABSTRACT Anxiety sensitivity (AS), the degree to which individuals fear bodily sensations associated with anxious arousal, has been implicated in the development and maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Despite this well-established link, AS has yet to be examined among women who experience military sexual trauma (MST). This is particularly important as research has shown that rates of AS and PTSD are higher among females compared to males. Thus, the purpose of the current investigation was to examine the association between AS and overall PTSD symptom and cluster severity using a sample of female Veterans with a history of MST. The sample included 50 women Veterans presenting for psychological services to a MST specialty clinic at a large southeastern Veterans Affairs hospital. Results revealed a significant positive association between AS and overall PTSD symptom severity, even after controlling for levels of depression, which appeared to be driven by the relationship between AS and negative alterations in cognitions and mood and arousal and reactivity clusters. These findings provide initial support for the association between AS and PTSD symptoms among female Veterans with a history of MST. Given the malleable nature of AS, future research should examine the extent to which targeting this cognitive-behavioral construct reduces PTSD symptoms among such samples.

Impact of total sleep deprivation and related mood changes on approach-avoidance decisions to threat-related facial displays.

Study ObjectivesTotal sleep deprivation is known to have significant detrimental effects on cognitive and socio-emotional functioning. Nonetheless, the mechanisms by which total sleep loss disturbs decision-making in social contexts are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the impact of total sleep deprivation on approach/avoidance decisions when faced with threatening individuals, as well as the potential moderating role of sleep-related mood changes.MethodsParticipants (n = 34) made spontaneous approach/avoidance decisions in the presence of task-irrelevant angry or fearful individuals, while rested or totally sleep deprived (27 h of continuous wakefulness). Sleep-related changes in mood and sustained attention were assessed using the Positive and Negative Affective Scale and the psychomotor vigilance task, respectively.ResultsRested participants avoided both fearful and angry individuals, with stronger avoidance for angry individuals, in line with previous results. On the contrary, totally sleep deprived participants favored neither approach nor avoidance of fearful individuals, while they still comparably avoided angry individuals. Drift-diffusion models showed that this effect was accounted for by the fact that total sleep deprivation reduced value-based evidence accumulation toward avoidance during decision making. Finally, the reduction of positive mood after total sleep deprivation positively correlated with the reduction of fearful display avoidance. Importantly, this correlation was not mediated by a sleep-related reduction in sustained attention.ConclusionsAll together, these findings support the underestimated role of positive mood-state alterations caused by total sleep loss on approach/avoidance decisions when facing ambiguous socio-emotional displays, such as fear.

Revisiting COVID-19 Communication in Western Africa: A Health Literacy-based Approach to Health Communication.

ABSTRACT.Adherence to protective measures is a major component of COVID-19 epidemic control. COVID-19 health literacy is a major driver of this adherence, and the evaluation of health literacy levels is the basis for designing an effective communication strategy. We conducted a quantitative socio-anthropological study of the knowledge of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and perception of the prevention messages in Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, and Sierra Leone. There are widespread erroneous ideas regarding the transmission of and the protection against COVID-19. The majority of people are unaware that asymptomatic individuals can transmit the virus. Knowledge of the risk factors for severe disease is not sufficient, and the majority of individuals fear contracting COVID-19 by visiting a health center. Our study also shows the achievements of communication campaigns on several aspects: almost everybody has heard of the virus and heard or read the messages on the protective measures and a large majority of people think that these measures are effective against COVID-19. Based on these results, we propose a communication strategy that will emphasize that asymptomatic individuals can transmit the virus, emphasize the risk factors, reassure individuals regarding the safety of frequenting health centers, and design specific messages targeting young populations.

Contributions of diagnostic, cognitive, and somatovisceral information to the prediction of fear ratings in spider phobic and non-spider-fearful individuals

BackgroundPhysiological responding is a key characteristic of fear responses. Yet, it is unknown whether the time-consuming measurement of somatovisceral responses ameliorates the prediction of individual fear responses beyond the accuracy reached by the consideration of diagnostic (e.g., phobic vs. non phobic) and cognitive (e.g., risk estimation) factors, which can be more easily assessed. MethodWe applied a machine learning approach to data of an experiment, in which spider phobic and non-spider fearful participants (diagnostic factor) faced pictures of spiders. For each experimental trial, participants specified their personal risk of encountering the spider (cognitive factor), as well as their subjective fear (outcome variable) on quasi-continuous scales, while diverse somatovisceral responses were registered (heart rate, electrodermal activity, respiration, facial muscle activity). ResultsThe machine-learning analyses revealed that fear ratings were predominantly predictable by the diagnostic factor. Yet, when allowing for learning of individual patterns in the data, somatovisceral responses contributed additional information on the fear ratings, yielding a prediction accuracy of 81% explained variance. Moreover, heart rate prior to picture onset, but not heart rate reactivity increased predictive power. LimitationsFear was solely assessed by verbal reports, only 27 females were considered, and no generalization to other anxiety disorders is possible. ConclusionsAfter training the algorithm to learn about individual-specific responding, somatovisceral patterns can be successfully exploited. Our findings further point to the possibility that the expectancy-related autonomic state throughout the experiment predisposes an individual to experience specific levels of fear, with less influence of the actual visual stimulations.

O ABSURDO DA MORTE NO NIILISMO DE BEAUVOIR E SCHOPENHAUER

This article presents a basic and descriptive bibliographic research on death in the nihilistic conception of Beauvoir and Schopenhauer. Death is a natural, complex phenomenon that causes fear in individuals. Death is a fact for finitude, in which it reduces the human being to the absurdity of nothingness. The focus of the article is to discuss through secondary sources and by the hypothetical deductive method the problem of death in the philosophy of these two thinkers. The relevance of this scientific research is based on the insertion that death is an object of study of paramount importance, because it presents itself to the individual as an inexorable and imminent reality. In the philosophical theory of these authors, death is a fact that contains nothing but an absolute darkness. It is the finitude of all human

Phobic COVID-19 Disorder Scale: Development, Dimensionality, and Item-Structure Test.

Over the century, the world has witnessed a number of pandemics—such as plague, Spanish flu, smallpox, and tuberculosis. Such pandemics have not only resulted in a great loss to human lives but have also affected the economy of many countries. COVID-19, declared as global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), is the latest in this series which has hit the world since the last quarter of 2019. Although a number of scales exist to assess fear and distress of individuals related to COVID-19, it is well articulated in the extant literature that sometimes the proposed scales are context specific and lack applicability in multi-cultural environment as also the factors’ structure of the scale are fit from the context of audience from certain geographical regions. Thus, a need was felt to evaluate the FCV-19S and propose and statistically validate a new COVID-19-based scale called Phobic COVID-19 Disorder scale (Phobic-19 scale). A structured e-questionnaire in English was used to collect the data from the respondents. A 12-item, three-dimensional (fear, anxiety, and distress) scale was developed to capture the emotions of general populations towards COVID-19. The study analyzes the dimensionality and item structure of the scale through exploratory factor analysis and further validated with the help of confirmatory factor analysis. The results show that the Phobic-19 scale has a strong internal consistency along with better psychometric characteristics. Mass replication and a large number of empirical research using the Phobic-19 scale would instill confidence amongst scholars and practitioners in the results. The findings also highlight that the results would help to advance our understanding by providing critical information related to COVID-19 and ensure that the scale provides accurate and usable data.

الخصائص الاجتماعیة وعلاقتها بمخاوف الأفراد فی المجتمع السعودی

مستخلص البحث: سعى هذا البحث إلى تحديد مخاوف الأفراد في المجتمع السعودي، وعلاقتها ببعض المتغيرات الاجتماعية والديموغرافية، کالعمر، والجنس، والحالة الاجتماعية، وحجم الأسرة، والمستوى التعليمي، والدخل الشهري، والقروض. وقد أجري البحث على عينة عشوائية طبقية بلغت 1531، من سکان المملکة العربية السعودية. وتوصل البحث إلى مجموعة من النتائج منها: ان المخاوف الوظيفية تأتي في مقدمة المخاوف لدى عموم أفراد العينة، يليها المخاوف المالية ثم الصحية. وجاءت المخاوف من الکوارث ثم المخاوف الغيبية ثم الأسرية في أدنى سلم المخاوف عند الأفراد. وتقل المخاوف بازدياد عمر الفرد وعدد أفراد الأسرة، وتزداد المخاوف بازدياد المستوى التعليمي. وتبلغ المخاوف الوظيفية أعلى نسبة لدى الأفراد الذين لا يملکون دخل، يليها المخاوف الصحية. والشعور بعدم وجود مخاوف على الإطلاق مرتفع لدى الذکور مقارنة بالإناث، وتترکز مخاوف الذکور في الجانب الوظيفي ثم المالي ثم الصحي، بينما الإناث في الجانب الصحي ثم الوظيفي ثم المالي. أخيرا 32.6% من أفراد العينة ليس لديهم مخاوف على الإطلاق. الکلمات المفتاحية: مخاوف الأفراد في المجتمع السعودي، المخاوف الأسرية، المخاوف الصحية، المخاوف المالية، المخاوف الوظيفية، المخاوف الأمنية. Social characteristics and their relationship to the fears of individuals in Saudi society Research abstract: This research sought to identify the fears of individuals in the Saudi society, with some social variables, such as age, gender, marital status, family size, educational level, monthly income, and personal loan. The research was conducted on a stratified random sample of 1531, from the population of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The research reached a set of results, including: job concerns are at the forefront of fears among the general sample, followed by financial and then health concerns. Disaster fears, metaphysical fears, and family fears came at the lowest levels of fear among individuals. Fears decrease with the increase in the age of the individual and the number of family members. Concerns increase with the increase in the educational level. Job concerns are highest among individuals without income, followed by health concerns. The feeling that there are no fears at all is high in males compared to females, and males' fears are concentrated in the jobs, financial, and health side, while females are in the health, jobs and financial side. Finally, 32.6% of the respondents had no concerns at all. Keywords: Individuals' fears in Saudi society, family concerns, health concerns, financial concerns, job concerns, security concerns.

The relationship between quality of life and fear of Turkish individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

ObjectiveIn this study, it was aimed to determine the relationship between quality of life and the fear experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. MethodThis cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with a total of 1060 participants from Turkey's 65 provinces. The research data were collected through an online questionnaire consisting of three parts: “Personal Information Form”, “The Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCS)” and “World Health Organization Life Quality Scale-Short Form (WHOQOL-BREF)”. Independent two-group t-test (Student's t-test), and one-way ANOVA test were used to compare the means of groups. The Pearson Correlation Coefficient was calculated to determine the level of correlation between two independent continuous variables. A value of p < .05 was accepted as the threshold for statistical significance. ResultsThe fear levels of women, married individuals and primary school graduates were found to be high, while quality of life was low among participants with poor economic status, those with COVID-19 symptoms and subjects who had been in close contact with a COVID-19-positive patient. In addition, there was an inverse relationship between the level of fear related to COVID-19 and quality of life (physical and psychological health). Practice implicationsNurses are recommended to develop new care and evaluation strategies that will cover psychosocial and economic areas, as well as physical health, in order to protect and maintain the well-being of individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 Pandemic: The Two Sides of the Same Coin

The COVID-19 pandemic appeared suddenly, spreading all over the globe, making an impact on all aspects of our lives, and astonishing the completely unprepared world governments and the health care systems. The aim of this review is to examine the present and future consequences of the pandemic’s psychological, social, political, economic and cultural impacts. Our lives have changed abruptly and dramatically. The high rates of morbidity and mortality, as well as the unpredictable duration of the pandemic, have caused anxiety and fear in many individuals. Facial masks wearing, distance keeping, the people gathering prohibition, and the introduction of quarantine and lockdowns, have profoundly distressed every single individual - of about 5.3 billion of the adult global population. However, designing and producing vaccines has been a great medical success. On the other hand, vaccine nationalism, the politization of the pandemic crisis, and vaccine hesitancy will continue to undermine the main epidemiological goal: a prompt and extensive vaccination of the global population, in the addition to the natural immunity of the survivors. Without a radical political and social reorganization, and individual behaviors changes regarding this crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic could last for several years.

The imprinting effect of SARS experience on the fear of COVID-19: The role of AI and big data

The worldwide outbreak of the COVID-19 has significantly increased the fear of individuals, which brings severe psychosocial stress and adverse psychological consequences, and become a serious public health problem. Based on the imprinting theory, this study investigates whether childhood experiences of SARS have an imprinting effect that significantly influences the fear of COVID-19. Furthermore, we propose that this effect is contingent on the applications of AI and big data. We test our framework with a sample of 1871 questionnaires that covered students in universities across all provincial regions in China, and the results suggest that the imprinting of SARS increases the individuals’ fear of COVID-19, and this effect is reduced with the applications of AI and big data. Overall, this study provides a novel insight of the fear caused by the childhood experience of the similar health crisis and the unique role of AI and big data applications into fighting against COVID-19.

Embodied Perceptions of Darkness

Embodied Perceptions of Darkness

COVID-19-Related Fear, Risk Perception, and Safety Behavior in Individuals with Diabetes.

(1) The aim of the study is to assess the psychological burden of individuals with diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic in comparison to matched controls. (2) Over the course of eight weeks, 9 April to 3 June 2020, 253 individuals with diabetes and 253 matched controls, using Propensity Score Matching (PSM), participated in this cross-sectional study. Participants completed an anonymous survey including demographics, depressive symptoms (PHQ-2), generalized anxiety (GAD-7), COVID-19-related fear, risk perception, and safety behavior. (3) While patients with diabetes expected their risk of infection similar to controls, they reported a higher probability of the occurrence of symptoms, severe course, and dying of COVID-19. Patients with diabetes showed no elevated generalized anxiety or depressive symptoms. However, they reported higher COVID-19-related fear and more adherent and dysfunctional safety behavior compared to controls. (4) From a public health view, it seems encouraging that despite the somatic risk condition, generalized anxiety and depression are not higher in patients with diabetes than in controls. Patients with diabetes report higher COVID-19-related fear, increased risk perception, and behavioral changes. This suggests that individuals with diabetes, as a significant risk group of severe COVID-19, show an adequate perception and functional reaction to the current pandemic.

A latent profile analysis of romantic attachment anxiety and avoidance.

We conducted latent profile analyses on community (n=1663) and clinical (n=575) samples to determine whether continuous scores of attachment anxiety and avoidance would lead to the identification of theoretically consistent and clinically useful profiles. We then compared these profiles according to gender, relationship status, psychological distress, and relationship satisfaction. Analysis on the community sample yielded four profiles: secure, preoccupied, dismissive, and fearful individuals; whereas, the clinical sample yielded three profiles: secure, preoccupied, and fearful individuals. In the community sample, there was a higher proportion of women under the preoccupied profile and a higher proportion of men under the dismissive profile compared with the other profiles. Overall, insecure individuals reported higher levels of relationship dissatisfaction and psychological distress, and a relationship status reflecting lower commitment. Our findings suggest that the Experiences in Close Relationships scale could be useful in assisting therapists in conceptualizing their cases according to their patients' attachment profile.

Currency redenomination and firm value growth: Lessons from a developing economy

The redenomination of the Cedi with the new Ghana Cedi in 2007 was met with skepticism and outright opposition in certain sectors of the economy. Businesses feared that this would decrease their net worth. Despite the time that has elapsed since the redenomination exercise, it is yet to be proven whether the fears of individuals who predicted its negative impact on firms’ performance had been confirmed or the optimism of those that expected its positive impact on firms’ performance has prevailed. Therefore, the study examined the impact of the cedi redenomination on firms’ value growth in Ghana. The study used the financial records of listed firms in Ghana, five years before and five years after the redenomination of the currency. The firms’ value growth was measured based on the growth in Tobin’s Q and return on assets (ROA). A generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation technique was adopted for the regression analysis. The results indicated that the firms’ value increased, whilst profitability decreased in the same year. Moreover, the results showed sustained growth in the profitability of firms after the redenomination exercise. The study concludes that the currency redenomination improved the firms’ profitability, whilst their value was not improved. The significant implication of the results is that governments can use redenomination as a tool to influence micro-economic activities. This study is perhaps the first to use firm-level data to examine the impact of currency redenomination on firms’ value growth in an African country.

Better safe than wealthy: Dysfunctional risk avoidance in spider-fearful individuals

Previous research has documented that fearful individuals avoid fear-relevant cues even if they incur costs in doing so. Paradigms that were previously used to study avoidance in the lab, manipulated reward contingencies in favor of selecting either fear-relevant or neutral cues, e.g., spiders versus butterflies. We, thus, developed a paradigm where the chance of monetary gains was linked with increasing probability of a fear-relevant or a neutral outcome. To this end, we modified the well-established Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) to include fear-relevant outcomes.Individuals with and without fear of spiders (N = 35) were offered the chance to inflate balloons, with more pumps resulting in larger gains. However, if the balloon exploded, this resulted in a loss of money – and at the same time in the presentation of a picture, either a fear-relevant spider or a neutral butterfly (emotional Balloon Analogue Risk Task; eBART). We operationalized risk aversion as the number of pumps and dysfunctionality of decision strategy as the amount of money that participants earned. In addition, decisional conflict was measured by response times for each decision.The data indicate, that spider-fearful individuals were generally more risk-averse and much more so in trials with fear-relevant stimuli as part of the negative outcome. Overall, this resulted in smaller amount of money that spider-fearful individuals earned compared to spider non-fearful individuals. Interestingly, spider-fearful compared to spider non-fearful individuals generally responded more hesitantly on all trials, and more so when they feared to encounter a spider.This research introduces a new paradigm and provides ecologically valid evidence for costly avoidance behavior in spider-fearful individuals. The eBART may be a promising new research tool to examine risk avoidance with emotionally relevant stimuli.

The relationship between spiritual well-being and fear of COVID-19 among Turkish elders

ABSTRACT The aim of this research is to determine the relationship between spiritual well-being levels and coronavirus fear levels of individuals over 65 years old during the COVID-19 outbreak. The study adopted a cross-sectional and corelational design. The research was conducted between July 1–30 in the city of Muş in Turkey’s Eastern Anatolia Region. The universe of the study consisted of 1780 individuals over 65 years old enrolled in a family practice center located in the city center between the specified dates. Personal information form, Spiritual Well-being Scale (FACIT-Sp) and Coronavirus Phobia Scale (C19P-S) were used to collect data. Data coding and analysis were performed in the computer environment with SPSS 25 package program. Analysis of data used number, mean, percentage distribution and Pearson correlation analysis. Participants had mean total points for the spiritual well-being scale of 28.61 ± 5.54, with mean coronavirus fear points of 59.66 ± 15.40. There was a moderate level correlation between spiritual well-being and coronavirus fear in individuals, with meaning and belief levels above the mean. Individuals with chronic disease had psychological fear levels above the mean, with somatic, economic and social fear levels below the mean. A significant negative relationship was found not only between the spiritual meaning sub-dimension and individuals’ fear of coronavirus but also between the peace sub-dimension and their fear of coronavirus. The data show that as individuals’ spirituality increases, their fear of coronavirus levels decrease.

Attentional processes and contamination-related intrusion distress

Whilst people with high contamination fear may not experience a greater number of contamination-related intrusions than people with low contamination fear, they tend to experience heightened distress in response to such intrusions. The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that attentional bias to contamination-relevant information, and the variability of this attentional bias, moderates the degree to which high contamination fearful but not low contamination fearful individuals experience distress in response to contamination-related intrusions. Individuals with high (n = 31) or low (n = 44) contamination fear completed a lab-based session including questionnaires, a dot-probe measure of contamination-related attentional bias and attentional bias variability, and a contamination stressor video. Participants then completed a week-long contamination intrusions diary. There were significant differences in intrusion distress between those with low and high contamination fear in the anticipated direction, and attentional bias significantly moderated this relationship. Regardless of contamination fear level, greater attentional bias variability was associated with greater intrusion distress. These findings suggest that reducing attentional bias variability could potentially help to reduce distress elicited by contamination-related intrusions, while also highlighting the fact that attentional bias towards threat may protect against such distress in low contamination fearful individuals.

THE ROYAL PREROGATIVE REVISITED: SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE PROPOSED REPEAL OF THE FIXED TERM PARLIAMENTS ACT AND A (LENGTHY) CRITIQUE OF MILLER NO 2

THE ROYAL PREROGATIVE REVISITED: SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE PROPOSED REPEAL OF THE FIXED TERM PARLIAMENTS ACT AND A (LENGTHY) CRITIQUE OF MILLER NO 2

Smart-Glass Guided Exposure for Anxiety Disorders: A Proof-of-Concept Study

Exposure is a highly effective treatment for pathological fear and anxiety, but rarely used in routine care. Issues of practicability and lack of therapists in rural areas are main barriers for the dissemination of exposure. Smartglass devices may enable therapists to guide exposure from their own office via real-time feedback and may thereby increase practicability. The present study explored the technological usability and clinical feasibility of Smartglass-guided exposure in a behavioral approach test in spider-fearful individuals (N = 40).Fearful individuals were asked to start the Smartglass themselves and established a connection to a therapist, who guided the exposure test from afar. Clinical severity of spider fear was assessed via questionnaire. Technological usability was assessed with established measures of usability, user experience, and user acceptance. Exploratory, individual characteristics of exposure were collected (e.g., within-session fear reduction, duration, safety behavior).Overall, fearful individuals (94.9%) and therapists (100%) were able to establish a connection. Usability of Smartglass-guided exposure was evaluated as positive. Within-session fear reduction was large (d = 1.91). Adverse events were minimal. There were, however, some associations between exposure characteristics and usability evaluation (e.g., lower user-friendliness and exposure duration). Two case examples further highlight chances and risks of Smartglass-guided exposure.These findings provide first evidence that Smartglass-guided exposure could be useful in exposure therapy. Smartglass-guided exposure may ultimately help to increase practicability of exposure and increase dissemination, also in rural areas. These findings are promising for future research on the long-term outcome of evidence-based exposure in treatment seeking patients.

Processing emotional expressions under fear of rejection: Findings from diffusion model analyses.

In the mood-of-the-crowd task, participants have to classify crowds of emotional faces according to the predominant emotions. We examined 2 possible moderators of a previously found positivity bias in this task: fear of rejection and threat of social exclusion. Participants (Study 1: N = 84, Study 2: N = 126) received bogus feedback on their future social relationships that was either negative (frustration group) or positive (satisfaction group). By means of diffusion model analyses (Ratcliff, 1978), we examined the cognitive processes involved in the task. Our main findings are that more fearful individuals accumulated negative facial information more quickly than their less fearful counterparts (drift rate of the diffusion model; dynamic bias). Furthermore, individuals with a lower fear of rejection who were frustrated showed a prior bias (i.e., shifted starting point of the diffusion model) for positive rather than negative faces in contrast to the more fearful individuals. This suggests that the less fearful individuals tried to restore the thwarted motive by shifting a criterion, so that ambiguous situations are perceived more positively. The present studies demonstrate that diffusion modeling supplies important information about underlying cognitive processes in the domain of the affiliation motive. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).