Anxiety, restraint, and eating behavior.

Hypothesized that individual differences in eating behavior based on the distinction between obese and normal Ss could be demonstrated within a population of normal Ss classified as to the extent of restraint chronically exercised with respect to eating. Ss were 42 female college students. Restrained Ss resembled the obese behaviorally, and unrestrained Ss resembled normals. This demonstration was effected in the context of a test of the psychosomatic hypothesis of obesity. Results indicate that although some individuals may eat more when anxious, there is little empirical support for the notion that eating serves to reduce anxiety. An explanation for this apparent inconsistency is offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How affiliation affects stress in fear and anxiety situations.

Three experiments with 156 male undergraduates investigated why the presence of calm others reduces an individual's arousal in a fear situation but intensifies the arousal in an anxiety situation. In the fear situation, Ss anticipated receiving a physically painful stimulus; in the anxiety condition, Ss anticipated receiving an innocuous but embarrassing stimulus. Overall results indicate that (a) Ss stressed by a fear context only underwent stress reduction with a calm other present if he looked at the calm other; (b) the mere presence of a co-participant was stress-inducing for Ss stressed by an anxiety context; (c) the stressed-fear Ss directed attention outward toward impinging environmental stimuli, whereas the highly aroused anxiety Ss did not or could not do so. It is argued that stressed-fear Ss were able to model a calm co-participant because their attention was directed outward, whereas stressed-anxiety Ss did not model a calm co-participant because their attention was turned inward. Some ideas are offered as to how a calm model may be able to serve as a stress preventer for a person in an anxiety situation. (51 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety and eating behavior in obese and nonobese American Indians and White Americans.

Compared 80 lower-SES obese and nonobese American Indians and 80 lower-SES obese and nonobese White Americans from multinational backgrounds on a test of emotional arousal theory (EAT), which proposes that obese people overeat when emotionally aroused while nonobese people do not. Ss were administered the trait anxiety form of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and then assigned to a high-anxiety (HA) or low-anxiety condition. They were then administered the state form of the STAI and given a taste task to determine whether EAT is predictive of eating behaviors for both ethnic groups. Results indicate that women were more trait and state anxious than were men; HA women, all HA Ss, HA American Indians, and nonobese American Indians were more state anxious than were corresponding groups. Behavioral indicator results generally supported EAT: All obese and high-anxiety-condition obese Ss consumed more food than did nonobese and low-anxiety-condition obese Ss, respectively. The overall consumption of food was greater with American Indians than with White Americans, indicating that EAT does not fully explain American Indian eating behavior. An alternative stress-reaction theory is proposed to more fully account for American Indian eating behavior. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological reactions to radiation therapy: Reconsideration of the adaptive aspects of anxiety.

Individual differences in the psychological reactions of 45 16–75 yr old patients undergoing external radiation treatment were examined in the context of the I. L. Janis's (1958) model and the linear decline model by C. D. Spielberger et al (see record 1973-21109-001) of medical stressor anxiety. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Profile of Mood States, and self-reports of symptomatology were completed by Ss pre- and posttreatment. Technologists administering the daily treatments assessed behavioral indicants of affective distress. Data analyses revealed that increases in complaints and side effects were reported by all Ss at treatment conclusion. Significant changes in state anxiety were obtained from pre- to posttreatment: (a) Ss with an initial high level of anxiety reported a significant reduction, although they remained the most anxious subgroup; (b) Ss with a moderate level of pretreatment anxiety reported no change; and (c) Ss with low levels of anxiety reported significant increases in state anxiety. No change in trait anxiety was found for any group, suggesting that the foregoing changes in state anxiety were not simply attributable to regression. Findings are consistent with the Janis model, which posits that in threatening situations the level of fear can potentially determine the adequacy of adaptation. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contribution of pretesting to several measures of semantic desensitization effectiveness.

32 snake- or spider-phobic Ss were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups: pretest–posttest therapy, posttest-only therapy, pre–post control, or post-only control. Ss receiving semantic desensitization therapy showed less posttest anxiety on the semantic differential than controls regardless of testing condition. However, therapy Ss demonstrated less anxiety on a fear survey, a fear thermometer, and a behavioral approach test only in the pretest–posttest condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of depressed mood on eating among obese and nonobese dieting and nondieting persons.

Induced a depressed or nondepressed mood in obese and nonobese dieters and nondieters (18 male and 38 female undergraduates). Ss were administered a battery of measures, including the Beck Depression Inventory and Depression Adjective Check List. As predicted, dieters ate more when depressed than when nondepressed, and nondieters ate less when depressed than when nondepressed. That is, both groups reversed their typical eating patterns when depressed. Also as predicted, among depressed Ss, dieters ate more than nondieters; among nondepressed Ss dieters ate less that nondieters. This pattern of results was found for both obese and nonobese Ss. Dieting habits were highlighted as a more salient variable than obesity in predicting eating responses to depressed mood. Findings are discussed with respect to the psychosomatic theory of obesity, the stimulus-binding theory of obesity, previous investigations of clinical depression, and the theory of restrained eating. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Response to hyperventilation and inhalation of 5.5% carbon dioxide-enriched air across the DSM-III—R anxiety disorders.

198 anxiety disorder patients, under criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-III-Revised (DSM-III-R), and 25 nonanxious control Ss underwent challenges of 90 sec of voluntary hyperventilation and 15 min of 5.5% carbon dioxide in air. Panic disorder Ss showed a greater subjective response to both challenges than did Ss with other anxiety disorders, who in turn responded more than did control Ss. Furthermore, Ss with panic disorder as an additional diagnosis tended to report more subjective response than did anxiety disorder Ss without panic disorder. The best prechallenge predictor of response to each procedure was a measure of fear of physical symptoms. The findings support previous results that have pointed to a greater fear or anxiety-inducing effect of these challenge procedures in panic disorder patients, as compared with other Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrating behavior therapy and psychotherapy in the treatment of agoraphobia.

Investigated the effects of treatment that combined behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, family systems therapy, logotherapy, and Gestalt therapy in the treatment of agoraphobia. Ss were 30 females and 5 males (mean age 35.18 yrs) who had been agoraphobic for a median of 7.05 yrs and who had applied for a 2-wk intensive treatment program (ITP). Ss were administered a battery of questionnaires including the Beck Depression Inventory and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Ss either began treatment on a weekly basis while waiting for the ITP to begin (treatment Ss) or were placed on a waiting list (control Ss). Significant changes on self-reported avoidance behavior, panic attacks, social anxiety, depression, chronic anxiety, assertiveness, and fear of fear were observed in the treatment Ss up to 6 mo after beginning the ITP. No change had occurred on these measures during the same time in the controls. Results indicate that psychosocial treatment without drugs is effective for the majority of clients seeking treatment for agoraphobia. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of age and test situation on reinstatement of fear.

Compared young with adult rats for reinstatement of fear. Ss were 72 hooded rats, 25 or 70 days old, randomly assigned to each of 3 treatments in groups of 12. Ss received 30 shocks in a black compartment; or this treatment plus single reinstatement shocks at 3 weekely intervals; or reinstatement shocks alone. 1 wk. after the last reinstatement, fear was measured by observing time spent in the shock compartment vs. time in an accessible (nonshock) white compartment. Groups of Ss were tested for active or passive avoidance by placing them 1st either in the shock or in the safe compartment. A reinstatement of fear effect occurred, but only for those Ss treated with original shock plus reinstatement, and then tested in the passive avoidance situation. Although all adults displayed greater fear under all conditions of treatment and test, both adult and young Ss were affected in the same way by these conditions. Results suggest that reinstatement is a somewhat fragile phenomenon and that its importance in the retention of prior experience does not vary with age. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fear behavior, fear imagery, and the psychophysiology of emotion: The problem of affective response integration.

Exp I compared the psychophysiological reactions of 25 Ss with 2 fears, focal phobia and social-performance anxiety. Ss were determined by questionnaire (e.g., Differential Personality Questionnaire, Fenz-Epstein Anxiety Scale) and interview to be at the high extreme of their respective fear reference groups. Each group was exposed to both its own and the other group's primary fear stress (i.e., a snake-exposure test and a public speaking performance). These same Ss were also instructed to imagine both types of fear situations as well as control scenes. Results indicate a different psychophysiological response for the 2 fear groups across the 2 fear contents. Thus, snake-phobic Ss showed greater arousal when exposed to a live snake than did socially anxious Ss. Despite significantly greater verbal reports of fear and arousal by socially anxious Ss, both fear groups showed a similar marked increase in physiological arousal during speech performance. Neither group generated a significant physiological reaction to either fear content during imagery assessment. Exp II examined emotional imagery with 40 undergraduates from the same 2 fear populations. An imagery pretraining program, based on the reinforcement of verbal report of somatic response content in imagery, led to a significant visceral arousal response during fear imagery. Response-trained Ss showed a pattern of heart rate change during imagery that varied between Ss and fear contents. Response-trained Ss also showed relatively greater concordance between verbal and visceral measures than did untrained Ss. (60 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trait-state anxiety and adjustment of surgery.

Evaluated the effects of surgery-induced stress on anxiety and the relationship between preoperative state anxiety level and postoperative adjustment using 56 white male 20-65 yr. olds scheduled for surgery. State (A-State) and trait (A-Trait) anxiety were measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. A-Trait scores were essentially the same before and after surgery. A-State scores declined slightly from 24 hr. before surgery to 48 hr. after surgery, and decreased markedly in the postoperative convalescence period. The magnitude of decline in A-State was unrelated to severity or type of surgery, surgical history, or S's age. High and low A-Trait Ss showed similar presurgery-postsurgery changes in A-State. Consistent with I. Janis's observation that moderate levels of preoperative fear facilitate recovery from surgery, there was some evidence that A-State level was curvilinearly related to postoperative adjustment. (33 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of psychoanalytic merging fantasies in systematic desensitization: A rigorous methodological examination.

L. H. Silverman et al (see record 1974-32983-001) purported to document that the effectiveness of systematic desensitization resides partially in its activation of unconscious merging fantasies. Their procedures, however, suggest the existence of serious threats to the internal, external, and statistical conclusion validity of this contention. Presented is a methodologically rigorous replication and extension of the investigation. 46 bug-phobic women participated in 4 therapy sessions. A variant of desensitization was employed in which viewing verbal stimuli presented subliminally was substituted for muscle relaxation. Ss in 3 treatments viewed stimuli that, according to psychoanalytic theory, should (a) decrease fear and behavioral avoidance, (b) increase anxiety, or (c) have no effect on fear of insects. Contrary to predictions derived from the theory, Ss in all conditions manifested significant improvement on behavioral approach, self-reported distress, and behaviorally rated anxiety, with no differential treatment outcomes being found. Ss' perceptions of therapist attributes and characteristics of therapy also failed to differ as a function of condition. Analyses ruled out such alternative explanations as therapist specificity or instrumentation deficiencies. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Regulation of energy balance in two models of reversible obesity in the rat.

Reports on 2 experiments with 114 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats. Ss were made obese either by tube feeding varying fractions (34, 47, 68, or 75%) of their normal food intake or by offering them a varied and palatable diet (cafeteria diet). After 17–30 days of these regimens, the treatments were withdrawn, and Ss were allowed free access to the normal stock diet. Tube-fed Ss precisely adjusted voluntary food intake to compensate for the energy delivered by tube but nevertheless became obese as a result of an increased metabolic efficiency. Cafeteria-fed Ss were hyperphagic and became obese without any apparent change in metabolic efficiency. Recovery from obesity was more rapid in cafeteria Ss and was due to a pronounced increase in heat production as well as concomitant hypophagia. Ss previously made obese by tube feeding exhibited hypophagia and returned to normal weight without any change in heat production. The relevance of these results to the concept of lipostasis and the relative roles of energy intake and expenditure in the regulation of energy balance are discussed. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genetically obese (ob/ob) mice are predisposed to gastric stress ulcers.

In Exp I, 20 adult male genetically obese (ob/ob) mice and 20 lean littermate controls were food deprived and subsequently physically restrained at normal room temperatures. Obese Ss became hypothermic and developed gastric stress ulcers. Lean Ss maintained normal body temperatures and did not form gastric ulcers. In Exp II, 5 male obese and 4 lean littermates were used to test the effects of noradrenaline (NA) during restraint, and 5 obese and 5 lean mice were used to test the effects of NA alone. It was expected that in lean, but not in obese, Ss that NA would induce an increase in O? consumption beyond that induced by initial restraint. O? consumption was measured during food deprivation and restraint. Obese and lean Ss had parallel metabolic responses, with obese Ss using significantly less O? at all times. The predisposition to formation of gastric ulcers is a new phenotypic expression of the ob/ob genotype. The pathogenesis of this susceptibility appears to be related to a genetic disturbance in heat production. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Voluntary control of human heart rate: Effect on reaction to aversive stimulation.

In anticipation of receiving painful stimuli, 20 female 21-27 yr old Ss learned to control their heart rate when provided with external feedback and reward for criterion heart rate changes and were instructed to increase or decrease their rate. Voluntary slowing of heart rate led to a relative reduction in the perceived aversiveness of the stimuli, particularly for those Ss who reported experiencing cardiac reactions to fear situations in daily life. It is concluded that biofeedback training for relevant physiological responses may possibly serve as a behavioral strategy for changing anxiety and fear reactions. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping skills training: An evaluation of a psychoeducational program in a community mental health setting.

40 21–60 yr old clients of a community mental health center were randomly assigned to either a coping-skills training program based explicitly on a psychoeducational model or a group-counseling control condition. Ss in the psychoeducational program were provided with 30 hrs of instruction and training in progressive relaxation, anxiety management, social skills, and self-reinforcement procedures. Group-counseling control Ss received an equal amount of attention devoted to analyzing personal problems with anxiety and interpersonal relations but with no direct skills training. Significant differences between the 2 groups on measures of general anxiety, fear, and assertiveness emerged immediately after treatment and at a 3-mo follow-up. Further analyses revealed that Ss were similar in terms of major demographic characteristics to clients who did not volunteer for training, that a greater percentage of program Ss than control Ss scored in the range of a sample of "normal" Ss on 2 of the 4 dependent measures, and that fewer program Ss were hospitalized within 1 yr after participation than were control Ss. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effet du niveau de peur, de la nature des consignes et d'un re-test lors d'un test d'approche comportementale.

56 16–22 yr old female students with either a moderate or a strong fear of harmless snakes were selected on the basis of a combined score from the Fear Survey Schedule and another fear questionnaire. The 2 experimental groups were submitted twice to a test of behavioral approach whereas a control group was submitted only once to the test. For each level of fear, half of the Ss were given neutral instructions to approach the stimulus and the other half were strongly urged to approach it and go through the whole series of steps of the approach test. Ss in the experimental groups received the same instructions on both test occasions. Results show a retest effect (i.e., Ss were less fearful in the 2nd test), but no significant effect due to the type of instructions. Ss with the higher level of fear showed less approach behavior, went more slowly through the steps of the approach test, and verbally expressed stronger anxiety. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effectiveness of structured psychodrama and systematic desensitization in reducing test anxiety.

36 students with examination anxiety took part in a study of the effectiveness of structured psychodrama and systematic desensitization in reducing test anxiety. Ss were randomly assigned to psychodrama, desensitization, or no-treatment control groups. All Ss were tested before and after the treatments on the Suinn Test Anxiety Behavior Scale and the Neuroticism scale of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. Results show that Ss in both treatment groups significantly reduced their test-anxiety scores compared with the controls. This was also congruent with gains as tested in vivo. A comparison between the 2 treatments, however, shows no significant differences. Also, there were no statistical differences among the 3 groups in neuroticism either before or after the treatments. It is concluded that the structured psychodrama method is as effective a mode of counseling as systematic desensitization in treating test anxiety. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress at work and psychosomatic complaints: A causal interpretation.

Examined the correlation between stress at work and psychosomatic complaints in 3 studies involving 1,047 German male blue-collar workers from 10 factories. In Study 1, 206 Ss were interviewed to measure psychological stress at work, psychosomatic complaints, and possible 3rd variables (e.g., job insecurity, leisure-time stress, lack of support from wife, political exaggeration, SES, and overrating or underrating stress at work). Ss represented 3–4 workers at each work place observed. In Study 2, 841 Ss were interviewed and 407 work places were observed. In Study 3, 90 Ss from Study 2 were reinterviewed and their work places reobserved. Results show that the correlation between physical stress and psychosomatic complaints can be explained by some 3rd variable, while the correlation between psychological stress and psychosomatic complaints cannot be explained by any of the alternative hypotheses. Objective conditions of work stress influenced the development of subjective stress and psychosomatic complaints. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fear of physical sensations and trait anxiety as mediators of the response to hyperventilation in nonclinical subjects.

Three studies were conducted to compare the ability of a measure of fear of physical sensations (Anxiety Sensitivity Index; ASI) and a measure of trait anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; STAI) to predict response to hyperventilation. In the 1st study 43 Ss were selected who differed in scores on the ASI but were equated on levels of trait anxiety. Two other studies were conducted in which Ss (ns?=?63 and 54) varied randomly on ASI and STAI scores. The results indicate that scores on the ASI account for a significant proportion of variance in the response to hyperventilation that is not accounted for by scores on the STAI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)