Our previous research suggests the importance of perceived competence for coping with chronic pai... more Our previous research suggests the importance of perceived competence for coping with chronic pain indicating that perceived competence determines how intensely persons experience pain, how much they are disturbed by pain, and whether they engage in ...
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1998
Four college students were exposed to a Sidman avoidance procedure to determine if an avoidance c... more Four college students were exposed to a Sidman avoidance procedure to determine if an avoidance contingency involving 20% carbon dioxide-enriched air (CO2) would produce and maintain responding. In Phase 1, two conditions (contingent and noncontingent) were conducted each day. These conditions were distinguished by the presence or absence of a blue or green box on a computer screen. In the contingent condition, CO2 presentation were delivered every 3 s unless a subject pulled a plunger. Each plunger pull postponed CO2 presentations for 10 s. In the noncontingent condition, CO2 presentations occurred on the average of every 5 min independent of responding. Following stable responding in Phase 1, condition-correlated stimuli were reversed. In both conditions, plunger response rate was high during the contingent condition and low or zero during the noncontingent condition. Furthermore, subjects avoided most CO2 presentations. However, CO2 presentations did not increase verbal reports of fear. Overall, the results from the present study suggest that CO2 can be used effectively in basic studies of aversive control and in laboratory analogues of response patterns commonly referred to as anxiety.
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 1983
This article reviews the manner in which overt behavioral measures of fear (usually Behaviour Avo... more This article reviews the manner in which overt behavioral measures of fear (usually Behaviour Avoidance Tests) are reported in major behaviour therapy journals. It was investigated whether instructions and procedures of BATs were outlined in sufficient detail to enable a potential researcher to replicate them. The results show that only one third (62) of 185 reviewed studies on fear, anxiety or phobias included some form of overt behavioral assessment. Only one third of these 62 studies gave a fair or detailed account of BAT instructions and procedures whereas the remaining studies provided only vague information or no details at all.
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 1996
... At this time, neither a rigid application of manuals nor their total rejection appears feasib... more ... At this time, neither a rigid application of manuals nor their total rejection appears feasible or even desirable. ... and fixed numbers of sessions, the most important task of behavior therapists is to conduct functional analyses of ... Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 27, 215240. ...
... The first couple, Landon (33) and Wendy (28) reported low levels of marital satisfaction and ... more ... The first couple, Landon (33) and Wendy (28) reported low levels of marital satisfaction and high levels of conflict due to rigidity in joint decision-making. Landon was raised in Europe and moved to the United States as an adult. ...
... These findings are particularly interesting with respect to the study by Kleinknecht (1982), ... more ... These findings are particularly interesting with respect to the study by Kleinknecht (1982), who found that the large majority of his 5s attributed their fear reduction to acquired knowledge of the phobic objects and to observation. ... Julian Press, New York. ...
ABSTRACT This paper presents a summarizing overview of the present conceptual, empirical, and pra... more ABSTRACT This paper presents a summarizing overview of the present conceptual, empirical, and practical status of the recent “cognitive trend” in behaviour therapy. The theoretical and practical similarities and differences of the three most influential cognitive-behavioural approaches are presented and some empirical evidence of their theoretical bases is critically examined. Finally, the therapeutic efficacy of these approaches is briefly reviewed.
Background: Nonresponsiveness to therapy is generally acknowledged, but only a few studies have t... more Background: Nonresponsiveness to therapy is generally acknowledged, but only a few studies have tested switching to psychotherapy. This study is one of the first to examine the malleability of treatment-resistant patients using acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial that included 43 patients diagnosed with primary panic disorder and/or agoraphobia (PD/A) with prior unsuccessful state-of-the-art treatment (mean number of previous sessions = 42.2). Patients were treated with an ACT manual administered by novice therapists and followed up for 6 months. They were randomized to immediate treatment (n = 33) or a 4-week waiting list (n = 10) with delayed treatment (n = 8). Treatment consisted of eight sessions, implemented twice weekly over 4 weeks. Primary outcomes were measured with the Panic and Agoraphobia Scale (PAS), the Clinical Global Impression (CGI), and the Mobility Inventory (MI). Results: At post-treatment, patients who receive...
Fear of bodily sensations has received extensive attention in relation to panic disorder, and mor... more Fear of bodily sensations has received extensive attention in relation to panic disorder, and more recently, other types of anxiety pathology and chronic pain problems. Extending this work, the present study examined fear of bodily sensations and its underlying dimensions in emergency room patients with Noncardiac Chest Pain (NCCP; n = 63). We posited a "differential specificity" hypothesis, expecting that specific cardiopulmonary fears would be more strongly associated with NCCP symptoms relative to other bodily fears. As hypothesized, participants reported cardiopulmonary sensations as significantly more fear-provoking than numbness, dissociation, and gastrointestinal sensations. Additionally, regression analysis indicated that after accounting for theoretically relevant demographic variables and health status, cardiopulmonary fear was the best predictor of a composite index of cardiac complaints intensity, even after removing variance related to the absolute number of c...
The present cross-sectional study sought to examine the extent to which heart-focused anxiety is ... more The present cross-sectional study sought to examine the extent to which heart-focused anxiety is associated with the co-occurrence of coronary artery disease (CAD) and a history of regular smoking in a sample of 148 postangiography patients from a cardiology unit. Individuals with CAD who regularly smoked demonstrated significantly greater heart-focused attention, but no greater degree of avoidance and fear of heart-focused sensations, than did nonsmoking persons with CAD and smokers without CAD. We also found evidence that heart-focused attention and fear incrementally predicted (above and beyond demographic variables and body mass index) intensity of average chest pain. Overall, this study provides some of the first empirical evidence that the occurrence of regular smoking and CAD is associated with specific dimensions of health anxiety. We discuss these findings in relation to models of panic pathology and anxious responding to bodily sensations.
We examined whether certain “risky” drinking motives mediate the previously established relation ... more We examined whether certain “risky” drinking motives mediate the previously established relation between elevated anxiety sensitivity (AS) and increased drinking behavior in college student drinkers (n=109 women, 73 men). Specifically, we administered the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), Revised Drinking Motives Questionnaire, and a quantity-frequency measure of typical drinking levels. Participants were parceled according to high (n=30), moderate (n=29), and low
Predictability of aversive events impacts the development and maintenance of anxiety, particularl... more Predictability of aversive events impacts the development and maintenance of anxiety, particularly panic disorder. Although animal studies typically have found a preference for signaled (predictable) over unsignaled (unpredictable) aversive events, results of research with human participants have been less clear. Using a panic-relevant paradigm, the authors examined predictability preference with humans as a function of anxiety sensitivity and gender during repeated administrations of 20% carbon-dioxide-enriched air. Participants preferred predictable administrations, with high-anxiety individuals showing greater preference than low-anxiety individuals and women showing greater preference than men. In addition to providing information to better understand human predictability preference for panic-related events, results also may aid in determining the applicability of predictability to the cognitive-behavioral treatment of panic disorder.
Our previous research suggests the importance of perceived competence for coping with chronic pai... more Our previous research suggests the importance of perceived competence for coping with chronic pain indicating that perceived competence determines how intensely persons experience pain, how much they are disturbed by pain, and whether they engage in ...
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1998
Four college students were exposed to a Sidman avoidance procedure to determine if an avoidance c... more Four college students were exposed to a Sidman avoidance procedure to determine if an avoidance contingency involving 20% carbon dioxide-enriched air (CO2) would produce and maintain responding. In Phase 1, two conditions (contingent and noncontingent) were conducted each day. These conditions were distinguished by the presence or absence of a blue or green box on a computer screen. In the contingent condition, CO2 presentation were delivered every 3 s unless a subject pulled a plunger. Each plunger pull postponed CO2 presentations for 10 s. In the noncontingent condition, CO2 presentations occurred on the average of every 5 min independent of responding. Following stable responding in Phase 1, condition-correlated stimuli were reversed. In both conditions, plunger response rate was high during the contingent condition and low or zero during the noncontingent condition. Furthermore, subjects avoided most CO2 presentations. However, CO2 presentations did not increase verbal reports of fear. Overall, the results from the present study suggest that CO2 can be used effectively in basic studies of aversive control and in laboratory analogues of response patterns commonly referred to as anxiety.
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 1983
This article reviews the manner in which overt behavioral measures of fear (usually Behaviour Avo... more This article reviews the manner in which overt behavioral measures of fear (usually Behaviour Avoidance Tests) are reported in major behaviour therapy journals. It was investigated whether instructions and procedures of BATs were outlined in sufficient detail to enable a potential researcher to replicate them. The results show that only one third (62) of 185 reviewed studies on fear, anxiety or phobias included some form of overt behavioral assessment. Only one third of these 62 studies gave a fair or detailed account of BAT instructions and procedures whereas the remaining studies provided only vague information or no details at all.
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 1996
... At this time, neither a rigid application of manuals nor their total rejection appears feasib... more ... At this time, neither a rigid application of manuals nor their total rejection appears feasible or even desirable. ... and fixed numbers of sessions, the most important task of behavior therapists is to conduct functional analyses of ... Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 27, 215240. ...
... The first couple, Landon (33) and Wendy (28) reported low levels of marital satisfaction and ... more ... The first couple, Landon (33) and Wendy (28) reported low levels of marital satisfaction and high levels of conflict due to rigidity in joint decision-making. Landon was raised in Europe and moved to the United States as an adult. ...
... These findings are particularly interesting with respect to the study by Kleinknecht (1982), ... more ... These findings are particularly interesting with respect to the study by Kleinknecht (1982), who found that the large majority of his 5s attributed their fear reduction to acquired knowledge of the phobic objects and to observation. ... Julian Press, New York. ...
ABSTRACT This paper presents a summarizing overview of the present conceptual, empirical, and pra... more ABSTRACT This paper presents a summarizing overview of the present conceptual, empirical, and practical status of the recent “cognitive trend” in behaviour therapy. The theoretical and practical similarities and differences of the three most influential cognitive-behavioural approaches are presented and some empirical evidence of their theoretical bases is critically examined. Finally, the therapeutic efficacy of these approaches is briefly reviewed.
Background: Nonresponsiveness to therapy is generally acknowledged, but only a few studies have t... more Background: Nonresponsiveness to therapy is generally acknowledged, but only a few studies have tested switching to psychotherapy. This study is one of the first to examine the malleability of treatment-resistant patients using acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial that included 43 patients diagnosed with primary panic disorder and/or agoraphobia (PD/A) with prior unsuccessful state-of-the-art treatment (mean number of previous sessions = 42.2). Patients were treated with an ACT manual administered by novice therapists and followed up for 6 months. They were randomized to immediate treatment (n = 33) or a 4-week waiting list (n = 10) with delayed treatment (n = 8). Treatment consisted of eight sessions, implemented twice weekly over 4 weeks. Primary outcomes were measured with the Panic and Agoraphobia Scale (PAS), the Clinical Global Impression (CGI), and the Mobility Inventory (MI). Results: At post-treatment, patients who receive...
Fear of bodily sensations has received extensive attention in relation to panic disorder, and mor... more Fear of bodily sensations has received extensive attention in relation to panic disorder, and more recently, other types of anxiety pathology and chronic pain problems. Extending this work, the present study examined fear of bodily sensations and its underlying dimensions in emergency room patients with Noncardiac Chest Pain (NCCP; n = 63). We posited a "differential specificity" hypothesis, expecting that specific cardiopulmonary fears would be more strongly associated with NCCP symptoms relative to other bodily fears. As hypothesized, participants reported cardiopulmonary sensations as significantly more fear-provoking than numbness, dissociation, and gastrointestinal sensations. Additionally, regression analysis indicated that after accounting for theoretically relevant demographic variables and health status, cardiopulmonary fear was the best predictor of a composite index of cardiac complaints intensity, even after removing variance related to the absolute number of c...
The present cross-sectional study sought to examine the extent to which heart-focused anxiety is ... more The present cross-sectional study sought to examine the extent to which heart-focused anxiety is associated with the co-occurrence of coronary artery disease (CAD) and a history of regular smoking in a sample of 148 postangiography patients from a cardiology unit. Individuals with CAD who regularly smoked demonstrated significantly greater heart-focused attention, but no greater degree of avoidance and fear of heart-focused sensations, than did nonsmoking persons with CAD and smokers without CAD. We also found evidence that heart-focused attention and fear incrementally predicted (above and beyond demographic variables and body mass index) intensity of average chest pain. Overall, this study provides some of the first empirical evidence that the occurrence of regular smoking and CAD is associated with specific dimensions of health anxiety. We discuss these findings in relation to models of panic pathology and anxious responding to bodily sensations.
We examined whether certain “risky” drinking motives mediate the previously established relation ... more We examined whether certain “risky” drinking motives mediate the previously established relation between elevated anxiety sensitivity (AS) and increased drinking behavior in college student drinkers (n=109 women, 73 men). Specifically, we administered the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), Revised Drinking Motives Questionnaire, and a quantity-frequency measure of typical drinking levels. Participants were parceled according to high (n=30), moderate (n=29), and low
Predictability of aversive events impacts the development and maintenance of anxiety, particularl... more Predictability of aversive events impacts the development and maintenance of anxiety, particularly panic disorder. Although animal studies typically have found a preference for signaled (predictable) over unsignaled (unpredictable) aversive events, results of research with human participants have been less clear. Using a panic-relevant paradigm, the authors examined predictability preference with humans as a function of anxiety sensitivity and gender during repeated administrations of 20% carbon-dioxide-enriched air. Participants preferred predictable administrations, with high-anxiety individuals showing greater preference than low-anxiety individuals and women showing greater preference than men. In addition to providing information to better understand human predictability preference for panic-related events, results also may aid in determining the applicability of predictability to the cognitive-behavioral treatment of panic disorder.
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