Type of Publication: | Journal article |
Publication status: | Published |
Author: | Kerstner, Tobias; Witthöft, Michael; Mier, Daniela; Diener, Carsten; Rist, Fred; Bailer, Josef |
Year of publication: | 2015 |
Published in: | Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology ; 83 (2015), 3. - pp. 578-589. - ISSN 0022-006X. - eISSN 1939-2117 |
Pubmed ID: | 25822241 |
DOI (citable link): | https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0039056 |
Summary: |
Objective: To examine whether a 2-week attribution modification training (AMT) changes symptom severity, emotional evaluation of health-threatening stimuli, and cognitive biases in pathological health anxiety. Method: We randomized 85 patients with pathological health anxiety into an electronic diary-based AMT group (AMTG; n = 42) and a control group without AMT (CG; n = 43). Self-report symptom measures, emotional evaluation, attentional bias, and memory bias toward symptom and illness words were assessed with an emotional Stroop task, a recognition task, and an emotional rating task for valence and arousal. Results: After the 2-week period, the AMTG compared with the CG reported lower symptoms of pathological health anxiety, F(1, 82) = 10.94, p< .01, η 2p = .12, rated symptom, F(1, 82) = 5.56, p = .02, η2p = .06, and illness words, F(1, 82) = 4.13, p = .045, η2p = .05, as less arousing, and revealed a smaller memory response bias toward symptom words in the recognition task F(1, 82) = 12.32, p< .01, η 2p = .13. However, no specific AMT effect was observed for the attentional bias. Conclusion: The results support the efficacy of a comparatively short cognitive intervention in pathological health anxiety as a possible add-on intervention to existing treatment approaches to reduce symptom severity, as well as abnormalities in health-related emotional evaluation and memory processes.
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Subject (DDC): | 150 Psychology |
Refereed: | Yes |
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KERSTNER, Tobias, Michael WITTHÖFT, Daniela MIER, Carsten DIENER, Fred RIST, Josef BAILER, 2015. A diary-based modification of symptom attributions in pathological health anxiety : effects on symptom report and cognitive biases. In: Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 83(3), pp. 578-589. ISSN 0022-006X. eISSN 1939-2117. Available under: doi: 10.1037/a0039056
@article{Kerstner2015-06diary-45231, title={A diary-based modification of symptom attributions in pathological health anxiety : effects on symptom report and cognitive biases}, year={2015}, doi={10.1037/a0039056}, number={3}, volume={83}, issn={0022-006X}, journal={Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology}, pages={578--589}, author={Kerstner, Tobias and Witthöft, Michael and Mier, Daniela and Diener, Carsten and Rist, Fred and Bailer, Josef} }