Specific Negative Emotions Research Articles

Subtypes, specifiers, epicycles, and eccentrics: Toward a more parsimonious taxonomy of psychopathology.

Berenbaum, Raghavan, Le, Vernon, and Gomez (2003; this issue) have performed a valuable service by articulating a taxonomy of emotional disturbance. While acknowledging that this structure has many attractive features (e.g., its inclusion of specific negative emotions such as disgust and anger), I discuss three potential problems. First, in comparison to “predominantly unpleasant” dysfunctions, little evidence supports the existence of “predominantly pleasant” disturbances in psychopathol-ogy. Second, emotional reactivity is confounded with valence, and it is unclear whether these two proposed types of disturbances actually provide independent information. Third, Berenbaum et al.'s taxonomy fails to model the behavioral substrate of emotions. I conclude by arguing that emotion-based taxonomies should be used to supplant—rather than supplement—the existing DSM framework.

Children's responses to mothers' and fathers' emotionality and tactics in marital conflict in the home.

Addressing a gap in methodological approaches to the study of links between marital conflict and children, 51 couples were trained to complete home diary reports on everyday marital conflicts and children's responses. Parental negative emotionality and destructive conflict tactics related to children's insecure emotional and behavioral responses. Parental positive emotionality and constructive conflict tactics were linked with children's secure emotional responding. When parents' emotions and tactics were considered in the same model, negative emotionality was more consistently related to children's negative reactions than were destructive conflict tactics, whereas constructive conflict tactics were more consistently related to children's positive reactions than parents' positive emotionality. Differences in children's responding as a function of specific parental negative emotions (anger, sadness, fear) and parent gender were identified.

Affect Regulation and the Development of Psychopathology

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Book ReviewsFull AccessAffect Regulation and the Development of PsychopathologyKetan A. Dhadphale, M.D., and David A.S. Garfield, M.D.Ketan A. DhadphaleSearch for more papers by this author, M.D., and David A.S. GarfieldSearch for more papers by this author, M.D.Published Online:1 Feb 2001https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.52.2.246AboutSectionsView EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail In an era of dichotomies and polarities in psychiatry, here is a book that tries to bridge gaps between disparate parts of the field. Susan J. Bradley, M.D., who is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, has succeeded in reducing some of the chasms between the various approaches to explaining the genesis of psychopathology.Dr. Bradley proposes that affect regulation is a core factor in human development and that its dysregulation is a causal factor in generating psychopathology. In the first part of the book, she lays out her model, explaining its operation from infancy to adulthood. She explains the concepts of general arousal factor, positive and negative affects, and stress reactivity as well as how they are correlated with affect regulation.Her hypothesis is that negative affect leads to distress or abnormal affective arousal and, in turn, to specific negative emotions. This cascade of events is modified by various factors, including experience and cognition. Risk factors such as loss, trauma, abuse, brain insults, attachment difficulties, sensitivity to expressed emotions, or family conflicts affect this sequence negatively and thus lead to psychopathology. Dr. Bradley also explains the model in clinical terms, noting that affective dysregulation is manifested as anxiety, which is the underlying emotion in most psychiatric syndromes.She explains the concepts in her model in neurobiological and psychotherapeutic terms, emphasizing the integration of mind and body components. In doing so she cites data from genetics, neuroimaging, and animal studies as well as from prevalent psychosocial theories. Thus abnormal affective arousal and the consequent affective dysregulation are mediated by a complex interplay of neurotransmitters, learning mechanisms, cognitive strategies, and psychosocial influences. The author reviews both biological and psychotherapeutic treatment modalities and summarizes how each treatment strategy improves the capacity to manage affect.In the later sections of the book, Dr. Bradley discusses specific clinical syndromes in light of the affect dysregulation model. She explains the internalizing disorders—anxiety and mood disorders—noting that "affective dysregulation occurs most typically when an individual with heightened stress reactivity becomes stressed." In contrast, in externalizing disorders such as the disruptive behavior disorders, a genetic vulnerability to anger and aggression may play a pivotal role, and stress reactivity may be less important. Dr. Bradley also discusses the generation of psychoses and personality disorders in terms of affective dysregulation. Finally, she details specific treatment strategies and their role in regulating affect.In the final section of the book, the author discusses trends and future research in affect regulation, briefly touching on the limitations of her hypothesis.The book is a laudable effort. It deals with issues that are relevant for today's practitioner while providing food for thought for those engaged in research. Dr. Bradley's emphasis on reducing the mind-body dichotomy is consistent; the book serves as an overarching template and may help integrate diverse efforts to understand affect regulation and psychopathology. Affect Regulation and the Development of Psychopathology should make good reading for psychiatrists, psychologists, and neurobiologists.Dr. Dhadphale is senior resident in psychiatry and Dr. Garfield is professor of psychiatry at the Finch University of Health Sciences-Chicago Medical School in Chicago.by Susan J. Bradley, M.D.; New York, Guilford Press, 2000, 316 pages, $40 FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited ByNone Volume 52Issue 2 February 2001Pages 246-246 Metrics History Published online 1 February 2001 Published in print 1 February 2001

Personality and coronary heart disease: the type-D scale-16 (DS16).

Clinical diagnoses of depression, self-reported negative emotions, and personality traits have been associated with both the development and progression of coronary heart disease (CHD). This article focusses on negative affectivity (the tendency to experience negative emotions) and social inhibition (the tendency to inhibit self-expression in social interaction) in CHD patients. Two independent samples of patients with CHD were included in this study. Both empirical and internal-structural criteria were used to devise a brief self-report measure comprising an eight-item negative affectivity and an eight-item social inhibition scale in Sample 1 (N = 400). These scales were internally consistent (alpha = .89 and .82), stable over time (three-month test-retest reliability = .78 and .87) and were validated against standard personality scales. CHD patients with a "distressed" personality (Type-D) report high levels of negative affectivity and social inhibition; accordingly, this self-report measure was termed Type-D Scale-16 (DS16). Previous research showed that Type-D was associated with cardiac events and incidence of cancer in patients with CHD. Type-D as measured by the DS16 was associated with depressive affect and symptoms, stress, poor self-esteem, dissatisfaction with life, and low positive affect in Sample 2 (N = 100) of the present article. It is concluded that research on CHD should focus on affective disorder, specific negative emotions, and global personality traits, and that the DS16 is a practical, sound research tool that can be used to assess Type-D.

Consistency, specificity, and correlates of negative emotions.

Four studies with college student participants examined the consistency, specificity, and correlates of sadness, fear, and anger. Study 1 measured emotions with daily diaries, and Study 2 examined the relationship between trait emotions and state emotions. Studies 1 and 2 indicated that specific negative emotions are temporally stable, are positively correlated, and provide information above and beyond that provided by other negative emotions. Study 3 found that negative emotions are differentially associated with different facets of cognitive style, as measured by questionnaires that examined dysfunctional attitudes and attributions concerning negative events. Study 4 indicated that negative emotions are differentially associated with different facets of response style, as measured by the degree to which individuals described their thoughts, feelings, and actions in response to hypothetical events

Consistency, specificity, and correlates of negative emotions.

Four studies with college student participants examined the consistency, specificity, and correlates of sadness, fear, and anger. Study 1 measured emotions with daily diaries, and Study 2 examined the relationship between trait emotions and state emotions. Studies 1 and 2 indicated that specific negative emotions are temporally stable, are positively correlated, and provide information above and beyond that provided by other negative emotions. Study 3 found that negative emotions are differentially associated with different facets of cognitive style, as measured by questionnaires that examined dysfunctional attitudes and attributions concerning negative events. Study 4 indicated that negative emotions are differentially associated with different facets of response style, as measured by the degree to which individuals described their thoughts, feelings, and actions in response to hypothetical events

Facial expressions of pain and emotions in chronic TMD patients

This research was designed to identify and validate facial expressions of pain occurring in a clinical chronic pain condition. Facial expressions of 28 patients with chronic temporomandibular disorder pain were videotaped during a painful clinical examination procedure and coded using an anatomically based system. Characteristics of the expressions occurring most frequently were compared with self-report measures of pain, anxiety, depression and somatic symptoms. The frequency, duration and intensity of the identified expressions were dependably correlated with pain report, but unrelated to self report of other somatic symptoms, depression or anxiety. A small number of facial expressions of specific negative emotions were also observed; pain report and pain facial expressions were higher for persons showing a greater number of negative affects. These findings support the promise of facial expressions as measures of clinical pain.

Neuroticism and autobiographical memory for positive and negative events

Highly neurotic individuals tend to ruminate about negative aspects of their lives. Using an autobiographical memory task, the relation between neuroticism and recall latency of specific events was studied. It was predicted that the inverse relation between neuroticism and recall latency would be (a) strongest when subjects were given negative affect prompts and a negative prime; and (b) weakest when subjects were given positive affect prompts and a positive prime. Eighty college students completed a neuroticism scale and were randomly assigned to one of four cells formed by crossing Affect Prompt (positive vs negative) with Affect Prime (positive vs negative). Response times were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Contrary to the hypothesis, no significant effects were observed. Based upon a two component model of autobiographical memory, it was suggested that highly neurotic individuals may be fast at searching for negative experiences, but because they are under chronic psychological distress, they find it difficult to link specific negative emotions with particular classes of daily events.