The effect of attempted thought suppression in acute stress disorder

The debate continues over whether a posttraumatic response occurs in those who have sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI). The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of acute stress disorder (ASD) in the mild TBI population. Patients who sustained a mild TBI after a motor vehicle accident (N = 79) were assessed for the presence of ASD. ASD was diagnosed in 13.9% of patients, and 5.1% were diagnosed with subsyndromal ASD. Dissociative, reexperiencing, and avoidance symptoms were found to have moderate to high predictive power. This study highlights the significant number of patients who experience an acute trauma response after TBI and raises the possibility that those with ASD denote those for whom an early intervention may prevent longer-term psychopathology. Diagnostic difficulties in defining ASD after TBI are discussed.     

Chronic thought suppression

We conducted several tests of the idea that an inclination toward thought suppression is associated with obsessive thinking and emotional reactivity. Initially, we developed a self-report measure of thought suppression through successive factor-analytic procedures and found that it exhibited acceptable internal consistency and temporal stability. This measure, the White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI), was found to correlate with measures of obsessional thinking and depressive and anxious affect, to predict signs of clinical obsession among individuals prone toward obsessional thinking, to predict depression among individuals motivated to dislike negative thoughts, and to predict failure of electrodermal responses to habituate among people having emotional thoughts. The WBSI was inversely correlated with repression as assessed by the Repression-Sensitization Scale, and so taps a trait that is quite unlike repression as traditionally conceived.     

The immunological effects of thought suppression.

Individuals often suppress emotional thoughts, particularly thoughts that arouse negative emotions, as a way of regulating mood and reducing distress. However, recent work has highlighted the complexities and unexpected cognitive and physiological effects of thought suppression. In a study designed to examine the short-term immunological effects of thought suppression, participants wrote about either emotional or nonemotional topics with or without thought suppression. Blood was drawn before and after each experimental session on 3 consecutive days. Results showed a significant increase in circulating total lymphocytes and CD4 (helper) T lymphocyte levels in the emotional writing groups. Thought suppression resulted in a significant decrease in CD3 T lymphocyte levels. The implications of the results for the role of the expression and suppression of emotion in health are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Paradoxical effects of thought suppression.

In a first experiment, subjects verbalizing the stream of consciousness for a 5-min period were asked to try not to think of a white bear, but to ring a bell in case they did. As indicated both by mentions and by bell rings, they were unable to suppress the thought as instructed. On being asked after this suppression task to think about the white bear for a 5-min period, these subjects showed significantly more tokens of thought about the bear than did subjects who were asked to think about a white bear from the outset. These observations suggest that attempted thought suppression has paradoxical effects as a self-control strategy, perhaps even producing the very obsession or preoccupation that it is directed against. A second experiment replicated these findings and showed that subjects given a specific thought to use as a distracter during suppression were less likely to exhibit later preoccupation with the thought to be suppressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The moderating effects of stimulus valence and arousal on memory suppression.

This study examined the separate and combined effects of stimulus valence and arousal on retrieval inhibition. Participants performed Anderson and Green's (2001) memory suppression task with stimuli varying across dimensions of valence and arousal. Memory was tested through free and cued recall as well as speeded recognition. Results showed that both stimulus valence and arousal influenced the extent to which participants successfully inhibited retrieval, but not in the ways anticipated. Specifically, the strongest inhibition effects were for highly arousing, pleasant words. In addition, unpleasant stimuli that were suppressed were better recalled during both cued and free-recall tasks than pleasant stimuli that were suppressed. Across all tests of memory performance, there were no significant differences between the experimental conditions for highly arousing, unpleasant words. The implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Obsessionality and the attempted suppression of unpleasant personal intrusive thoughts

The influence of sodium nitroprusside (SNP) induced hypotension on the extra-cellular tumour pH during local hyperthermia (HT), and on the cytotoxic effect of HT, was studied in the BT4An tumour transplanted to the hind limb of BD IX rats. Experiments with intravenous infusion of glucose before the HT/SNP combination were also performed. Local waterbath HT was given at 44 degrees C. Sodium nitroprusside was administered as a continuous i.v. infusion to lower the mean arterial blood pressure to 60 mmHg. Glucose was given as an i.v. infusion at a dosage of 4.8 g/kg body weight in 60 min before HT. Extracellular tumour pH was measured by a needle type glass electrode. The tumour pH fell from 7.19 to 6.81, on average, after 60 min HT. Sodium nitroprusside induced hypotension during HT did not increase the pH fall after 1 h HT, but the pH 60 min after discontinuation of HT was lower in this group than in the HT alone group. Pretreatment with glucose before HT gave similar results as the HT/SNP combination. When glucose was given before HT/SNP a highly relevant decline in tumour pH during HT from 7.22 to 5.95 was observed. In a separate tumour response experiment adding SNP to HT was found to prolong the tumour growth time. Pre-treatment with glucose before the HT/SNP combination prolonged the tumour growth time slightly. The applicability of this treatment protocol in the clinical treatment of patients is discussed.     

Effects of thought suppression on episodic memory

BACKGROUND: Triple extramammary Paget's disease (TEPD) has been considered to be rare in the English literature, and its incidence and characteristics are unclear. There are many therapeutic options for treating extramammary Paget's disease (EPD). OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to investigate how many TEPD cases have been reported previously and to describe their characteristics. We also describe the effectiveness of radiotherapy for them. METHODS: We report two TEPD cases, and summarize previously reported TEPD cases together with our cases. RESULTS: Twenty-three TEPD cases have been reported previously. Of these, 19 cases have been in Japan. All but one patient with TEPD were male. Their axillary lesions often showed no eruptions or very slight erythema. Radiotherapy for our cases was effective although the effectiveness of radiotherapy is controversial. CONCLUSION: In genital Paget's disease bilateral axillae should be examined histologically, even if they show no or slight eruptions. Radiotherapy may be useful for EPD, particularly axillary Paget's disease.     

Beyond valence in the perception of likelihood: The role of emotion specificity.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 78(4) of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (see record 2007-17405-001). The graph in the upper panel, "Low NC Participants," was incorrect. The corrected figure in its entirety appears in this erratum.] Positive and negative moods have been shown to increase likelihood estimates of future events matching these states in valence (e.g., E. J. Johnson and A. Tversky, 1983). In the present article, 4 studies provide evidence that this congruency bias (1) is not limited to valence but functions in an emotion-specific manner, (2) derives from the informational value of emotions, and (3) is not the inevitable outcome of likelihood assessment under heightened emotion. Specifically, Study 1 demonstrates that sadness and anger, 2 distinct, negative emotions, differentially bias likelihood estimates of sad and angering events. Studies 2 and 3 replicate this finding in addition to supporting an emotion-as-information (cf. N. Schwarz and G. L. Clore, 1983), as opposed to a memory-based, mediating process for the bias. Finally, Study 4 shows that when the source of the emotion is salient, a reversal of the bias can occur given greater cognitive effort aimed at accuracy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of stress hormones in exercise-induced suppression of alveolar macrophage antiviral function

We hypothesized that a previously observed exercise-induced suppression of alveolar macrophage antiviral resistance results from increases in corticosterone and/or epinephrine. Mice (CD-1) were run to fatigue on a treadmill (exercise), or placed in Plexiglas lanes above the treadmill (control). The role of corticosterone was assessed by further dividing mice into groups receiving one of the following treatments; sham surgery, adrenalectomy, or adrenalectomy plus corticosterone replacement. Macrophage antiviral function was suppressed in the exercised mice compared to the control mice. However, macrophage antiviral function was not suppressed in the exercised mice that underwent adrenalectomy or adrenalectomy plus corticosterone replacement. We tested whether another adrenal factor (epinephrine) may be involved by dividing mice into exercise and control groups treated with either saline or propranolol. Macrophage antiviral function was again suppressed in the saline-treated exercised mice compared to saline-treated control mice, but no differences were found between the exercised mice receiving propranolol, control mice receiving propranolol, or saline-treated control mice. Isoproterenol, when added to alveolar macrophages in culture, also suppressed antiviral resistance. These findings suggest that decreased macrophage antiviral function following exercise may be due to increased release of adrenal catecholamines.     

Eye movements accompanying daydreaming, visual imagery, and thought suppression.

Relationship between oculometer activity during the waking state and internally produced cognitive processes such as daydreaming and visual imagery were studied by means of continuous electro-oculograms. 24 female college students served as Ss. Eye movements and blinks were more frequent following instructions to engage in active rather than passive thinking; more frequent following instructions to suppress than to generate a wish. Greater ocular activity was observed under instructions to imagine moving than to imagine static visual imagery, the difference holding for both eyes open and closed conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of drinking in the suppression of food intake by recent activity.

The standard activity-based anorexia procedure provides rats with access to a running wheel while restricting their access to dry food. This can produce reduced food intake and progressive weight loss. Using this procedure, in the present study (Experiment 1) the authors found changes in drinking patterns both in the period of high activity preceding food access and during the feeding period. Varying the procedure by providing wet mash (Experiment 2) or by prior adaptation to a drinking schedule (Experiment 3) prevented the self-starvation effect. These results indicate the importance of drinking when analyzing the effect of recent activity on food intake. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of worrisome thinking in the suppression of cardiovascular response to phobic imagery

Speech-fearful subjects repeatedly imagined a phobic image while heart rate and subjective reports of fear were monitored. Subject groups differed according to the type of mental activity that preceded each image. One group thought about a relaxing situation (Relaxation) and one group engaged in worrisome thinking (General-Worry). Three other groups were pre-trained to worry during their pre-image mentation periods with an emphasis on: (a) the thoughts; (b) the images; or (c) the affect experienced during worry. Cardiovascular effects occurred only on the first image presentation. Thought-Worry produced significantly less heart rate response than did Relaxation; the other worry conditions fell nonsignificantly between these two groups. Within-group correlations between heart rate response to the image and the reported predominance of thought relative to imagery during the preceding mentation period showed that: (a) greater worrisome thinking in General-Worry was related to less cardiovascular response; and (b) greater relaxed thinking in Relaxation was associated with greater cardiovascular response. These results support the hypothesis that it is the worrisome thinking aspect of worry that may inhibit the emotional processing of phobic material and that Gray's mismatch theory of anxiety elicitation may account for these effects.     

The effects of HIV-related thought suppression on risk behavior: Cognitive escape in men who have sex with men.

This study investigated the relationship between suppressing thoughts about HIV risk and several outcomes related to HIV risk, including sexual risk behavior and HIV prevention service use, in men who have sex with men (MSM). Synthesizing the ironic processing theory (D. M. Wegner, 1994) with a cognitive escape paradigm (D. J. McKiman, D. G. Ostrow, & B. Hope, 1996), it was hypothesized that thought suppression might increase risk by leading MSM to "escape" from sexual safety norms and engage in risky sex behaviors and, via a paradoxical process, increase future use of community prevention services. Results from a sample of MSM (N = 709) indicated that thought suppression was positively related to concurrent sexual risk behavior and to future use of prevention services. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of cyclic adenosine monophosphate in the suppression of cellular immunity after thermal injury

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) is an intracellular second messenger that is known to convey inhibitory signals for T-cell proliferation and function. We investigated the association between this molecule and the profound immunosuppression that accompanies thermal injury. DESIGN: Mice were randomized into two groups: one group was subjected to a 20% full-thickness scald burn; the second to a sham burn (control). The mice were killed on days 4, 7, or 10 after the burn injury and splenocytes were pooled and cultured for 15 minutes in the presence or absence of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). RESULTS: Levels of cAMP in splenocytes were significantly elevated on day 7 after burn in the burn group compared with the sham controls (P < .05, Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test). Incubation of splenocytes with PGE2 resulted in significantly greater levels of intracellular cAMP in cells from the burn group compared with controls on days 4, 7, and 10. Incubation of normal splenocytes with dibutyryl cAMP in the presence of concanavalin A significantly decreased cell proliferation and the production of interleukin-2. The decrease in interleukin-2 production was evident at the level of messenger RNA expression. Stimulation of splenocytes with a combination of phorbol ester and calcium ionophore, bypassing all membrane-associated events prior to protein kinase C activation, reversed the inhibitory effects of dibutyryl cAMP. Incubation of splenocytes from burned animals with H-8, a selective inhibitor of cAMP-dependent protein kinases, restored the proliferative response to that of sham controls on days 4, 7, and 10 after thermal injury. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that elevated levels of intracellular cAMP, combined with an increased production of cAMP in response to circulating PGE2, may play a fundamental role in suppression of the immune response following thermal injury and that cAMP exerts its immunomodulatory effects prior to protein kinase C activation.     

The role of valence on the high-affinity binding of Griffonia simplicifolia isolectins to type A human erythrocytes

The Griffonia simplicifolia-I (GS-I) isolectins have been used to probe the effect of lectin valence on their high-affinity binding to human erythrocytes. These tetrameric lectins are composed of A and B subunits and constitute a series of five isolectins (A4, A3B, A2B2, AB3, B4). The A subunit is specific for alpha-D-GalNAc end groups and binds to the blood type A determinant GalNAcalpha1, as well as to terminal alpha-D-Gal groups found on type B cells. The B subunit is specific for alpha-D-Gal end groups, and binds very specifically to type B erythrocytes. This series of isolectins is tetravalent (A4), trivalent (A3B), divalent (A2B2), and monovalent (AB3) for type A erythrocytes; thus, this system provides the opportunity to examine the effect of lectin valency on the association constants of these GS-I isolectins binding to cells. Cell binding experiments carried out using 125I-labeled GS-I isolectins and type A human erythrocytes allowed us to demonstrate that (1) the association constant of the isolectin monovalent for alpha-D-GalNAc (AB3) is virtually identical to its association constant for the haptenic sugar methyl-N-acetyl-alpha-D-galactosaminide, reported previously, and (2) the association constant of the GS-I isolectins for human type A erythrocytes increases with increasing valency of the isolectin. These results indicate that the increased affinity displayed by the GS-I isolectins for human type A erythrocytes is dependent on their multivalency, and not on an extended binding site nor on nonspecific, or noncarbohydrate, interactions of the lectin with the cell surface. These findings should be of general relevance to understanding the high-affinity interactions observed between other multivalent proteins and multivalent ligands (e.g., cell surfaces).     

The role of complex thought in clinical prediction: Social accountability and the need for cognition.

Research shows that clinical predictions are less accurate than statistical predictions and are held with unreasonable confidence. Because there are obstacles to the implementation of statistical prediction, factors that improve clinical judgment must be identified. One hundred twelve individuals participated in an experiment investigating the role of complex thought in clinical prediction. Results revealed marked performance differences related to the amount of available clinical information. Participants' assessed need for cognition was associated with their consistency, accuracy, and cue-weighting strategies. Social accountability improved confidence performance under certain task conditions but was unrelated to accuracy. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed, with emphasis on the restructuring of tasks and the selection and training of human forecasters to promote accurate and appropriately confident clinical predictions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measurement as a tool for thought: The role of measuring procedures in children's understanding of quantitative invariance.

Relations between measuring procedures (e.g., counting, aligning) and children's reasoning about amount were explored in two studies. The first compared traditional conservation-like measures with new tasks reflecting the procedures used to measure number, length, and area. Children's judgments of quantitative equivalence did not indicate a general understanding of a given domain (number, length, or area). Rather, difficulty of a transformation for a domain could be predicted from the effects of that transformation on a relevant measurement procedure. The second study looked at circumstances under which preschool children can access a basic length measurement strategy. Three-year-olds were better able to use a stick to find an object hidden in one of two holes than to determine the deeper hole. Results suggest that measurement procedures function as a tool for thought, developing to solve functional problems and continuing to organize the way children reason about amounts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

It's the thought that counts: The role of hostile cognition in shaping aggressive responses to social exclusion.

Prior research has confirmed a casual path between social rejection and aggression, but there has been no clear explanation of why social rejection causes aggression. A series of experiments tested the hypothesis that social exclusion increases the inclination to perceive neutral information as hostile, which has implications for aggression. Compared to accepted and control participants, socially excluded participants were more likely to rate aggressive and ambiguous words as similar (Experiment 1a), to complete word fragments with aggressive words (Experiment 1b), and to rate the ambiguous actions of another person as hostile (Experiments 2-4). This hostile cognitive bias among excluded people was related to their aggressive treatment of others who were not involved in the exclusion experience (Experiments 2 and 3) and others with whom participants had no previous contact (Experiment 4). These findings provide a first step in resolving the mystery of why social exclusion produces aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Disinhibition of communicated thought: Generality and role of cognitive style.

Studied the effects on thought functioning in 80 male and 80 female adults of vocal occlusion by white noise masking (WNM). The interruption of vocal feedback did not change performance on either a cognitive task (a reading test) or on a visual-motor test (digit substitution) when no vocal activity was involved. For men there was a slight but significant performance decrement on the reading test when oral reading was involved. For all Ss, WNM produced an increase in impulse-related themes and a decrease in defensive themes on the TAT. Findings suggest that (a) hearing oneself as one speaks is necessary for modulating impulse and affect and for smooth reality testing in general; and (b) for men, the disinhibition effects of WNM tend to occur in the setting of a leveling cognitive style. Results are discussed in terms of their relevance to defensive organization and the need for vocal feedback in maintaining the stability of defense. (38 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The origins of cognitive thought.

Words referring to feelings and states of mind were first used to describe behavior or the situations in which behavior occurred. When concurrent bodily states began to be noticed and talked about, the same words were used to describe them. They became the vocabulary of philosophy and then of mentalistic or cognitive psychology. The evidence is to be found in etymology. In this article, examples are given of words that have come to describe the feelings or states of mind that accompany doing, sensing, wanting, waiting, thinking, and several other attributes of mind. The bodily states felt or introspectively observed and described in these ways are the subject of physiology, especially brain science. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)