Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ttngx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-29T05:09:41.537Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Trauma Revaluation, Conditioning, and Anxiety Disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2014

Graham C.L. Davey
Graham C.L. Davey*
Affiliation:
The City University, London, U.K.
*
Department of Psychology, The City University, Northampton Square, London, EC1V OHB, U.K.
Get access

Abstract

This paper describes a two-component conditioning model of anxiety disorders whose two main components are an associative process and a process which determines the evaluation of the unconditioned stimulus (UCS). It is argued that the inclusion of UCS revaluation processes enables conditioning models to explain a variety of anxiety-related phenomena that hitherto had been difficult to explain solely in associative terms. In particular, (a) experiments are described which suggest that incubation of the conditioned response (CR) can be explained in terms of processes contributing to UCS inflation, (b) the experimental evidence on UCS revaluation is assessed in relation to cognitive processes that might lead to trauma revaluation within specific anxiety disorders, and (c) the role of personality factors in effecting UCS and trauma revaluation is discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Behaviour Change , Volume 10 , Issue 3: Special Issue: The Relevance of Basic Research to Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy , September 1993 , pp. 131 - 140
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aitken, R.C., Lister, J.A., & Main, C.J. (1981). Identification of features associated with flying phobias in aircrew. British Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 38–42.Google Scholar
Barlow, D.H. (1988). Anxiety and its disorders. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Beck, A.T., Laude, R., & Bohert, M. (1974). Ideational components of anxiety neurosis. Archives of General Psychiatry, 31, 319–325.Google Scholar
Bell, A., & Byrne, D. (1978). Repression-sensitisation. In London, H. & Exner, J.E. (Eds.), Dimensions of personality (pp. 449–485). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Blackburn, R. (1965). Emotionality, repression-sensitisation, and maladjustment. British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 399–404.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blatt, S.J., & Shichman, B. (1983). Two primary configurations of psychopathology. Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Thought, 6, 187–254.Google Scholar
Bonanno, G.A., & Singer, J.L. (1990). Repressive personality style: Theoretical and methodological implications for health and pathology. In Singer, J.L. (Ed.), Repression and dissociation (pp. 435–470). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Bower, G.H. (1981). Mood and memory. American Psychologist, 36, 129–148.Google Scholar
Breznitz, S. (1983). The denial of stress. New York: International University Press.Google Scholar
Butler, G., & Mathews, A. (1983). Cognitive processes in anxiety. Advances in Behaviour Research & Therapy, 5, 51–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, D., Sanderson, R.E., & Laverty, S.G. (1964). Characteristics of a conditioned response in human subjects during extinction trials following a simple traumatic conditioning trial. Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology, 68, 627–639.Google Scholar
Cohen, F., & Lazarus, R.S. (1983). Coping and adaptation in health and illness. In Mechanic, D. (Ed.), Handbook of health, health care, and the health professions New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Colgan, D.M. (1970). Effect of instructions on the skin resistance response. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 86, 108–112.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cracknell, S., & Davey, G.C.L. (1988). The effect of perceived unconditioned response strength on conditioned responding in humans. Medical Science Research, 16, 169–170.Google Scholar
Creamer, M., Burgess, P., & Pattison, P. (1992). Reaction to trauma: A cognitive processing model. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 101, 452–459.Google Scholar
Davey, G.C.L. (1987). The integration of human and animal models of Pavlovian conditioning: Associations, cognitions, and attributions. In Davey, G.C.L., (Ed.), Cognitive processes and Pavlovian conditioning in humans (pp. 83–114). Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Davey, G.C.L. (1988a). Pavlovian conditioning in humans: UCS revaluation and the self-observation of conditioned responding. Medical Science Research, 16, 957–961.Google Scholar
Davey, G.C.L. (1988b). Dental phobias and anxieties: Evidence for conditioning processes in the acquisition and modulation of a learned fear. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 27, 51–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davey, G.C.L. (1989). UCS revaluation and conditioning models of acquired fear. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 27, 521–528.Google Scholar
Davey, G.C.L. (1992a). Classical conditioning and the acquisition of human fears and phobias: A review and synthesis of the literature. Advances in Behaviour Research & Therapy, 14, 29–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davey, G.C.L. (1992b). An expectancy model of laboratory preparedness effects. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 121, 24–40.Google Scholar
Davey, G.C.L. (1993a). Preparedness and phobias: Twenty years in a biological cul-de-sac? Manuscript submitted for publication.Google Scholar
Davey, G.C.L. (1993b). A comparison of three cognitive appraisal strategies: The role of threat devaluation in problem-focussed coping. Personality & Individual Differences, 14, 535–546.Google Scholar
Davey, G.C.L., Burgess, I., & Rashes, R. (1993). Coping strategies and phobias: The relationship between fears, phobias and methods of coping with stressors. Manuscript submitted for publication.Google Scholar
Davey, G.C.L., de Jong, P., & Tallis, F. (1993). UCS inflation in the aetiology of a variety of anxiety disorders: Some case histories. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 31, 495–498.Google Scholar
Davey, G.C.L., Hampton, J., Farrell, J., & Davidson, S. (1992). Some characteristics of worrying: Evidence for worrying and anxiety as separate constructs. Personality & Individual Differences, 13, 133–147.Google Scholar
Davey, G.C.L., & Matchett, G. (1993). UCS rehearsal and the incubation and retention of differential “fear” conditioning: Effects of trait and state anxiety. Manuscript submitted for publication.Google Scholar
Davey, G.C.L., & McKenna, I. (1983). The effects of post-conditioning revaluation of CS1 and UCS following Pavlovian second-order electrodermal conditioning in humans. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 35B, 125–133.Google Scholar
Dawson, M.E., & Grings, W.W. (1968). Comparison of classical conditioning and relational learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 76, 227–231.Google Scholar
Dinardo, Q.E. (1971). Psychological adjustments to spinal cord injury. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Houston, Texas.Google Scholar
Doogan, S., & Thomas, G.V. (1992). Origins of fear of dogs in adults and children: The role of conditioning processes and prior familiarity with dogs. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 30, 387–394.Google Scholar
Emmelkamp, P.M.G. (1982). Phobic and obsessive-compulsive disorders. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Eysenck, H.J. (1976). The learning theory model of neurosis — a new approach. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 14, 251–267.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eysenck, H.J. (1979). The conditioning model of neurosis. Behavioral and Brain Science, 2, 155–199.Google Scholar
Eysenck, H.J., & Kelley, M.J. (1987). The interaction of neurohormones with Pavlovian A and Pavlovian B conditioning in the causation of neurosis, extinction and incubation of anxiety. In Davey, G.C.L. (Ed.), Cognitive processes and Pavlovian conditioning in humans (pp. 251–286). Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Eysenck, M. (1983). Attention and arousal: Cognition and performance. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Foa, E.B., Steketee, G., & Rothbaum, B.O. (1989). Behavioral-cognitive conceptualizations of posttraumatic stress disorder. Behavior Therapy, 20, 155–176.Google Scholar
Folkman, S., Lazarus, R.S., Dunkel-Schetter, C., DeLongis, A., & Gruen, A.R. (1986). Dynamics of a stressful encounter: Cognitive appraisal, coping, and encounter outcomes. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 50, 992–1003.Google Scholar
Gomes, M.E., & Weinberger, D.A. (1986). Attributional biases: Distinctions among depressive, defensive, and efficacious styles. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Goorney, A.B. (1970). Treatment of aviation phobias by behaviour therapy. British Journal of Psychiatry, 17, 535–544.Google Scholar
Hackett, T.P., Cassem, N.H., & Wishnie, H.A. (1968). The coronary-care unit: An appraisal of its psychological hazards. New England Journal of Medicine, 279, 66–75.Google Scholar
Holroyd, K. (1972). Repression-sensitisation, Marlowe-Crowne defensiveness, and perceptual defence. Proceedings of the 80th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, 7, 401–402.Google Scholar
Honeybourne, C., Matchett, G., & Davey, G.C.L. (1993). Expectancy models of laboratory preparedness effects: A UCS-expectancy bias in phylogenetic and ontogenetic fear-relevant stimuli. Behavior Therapy, 24, 253–264.Google Scholar
Horowitz, M.J. (1986). Stress response syndromes (2nd ed.). New York: Jason Aronson.Google Scholar
Jones, T., & Davey, G.C.L. (1990). The effects of cued UCS rehearsal on the retention of differential “fear” conditioning: An experimental analogue of the “worry” process. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 28, 159–164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Katz, A., Webb, L., & Stotland, E. (1971). Cognitive influences on the rate of GSR extinction. Journal of Experimental Research in Personality, 5, 208–215.Google Scholar
Kilpatrick, D.G., Saunders, B.E., Amick-McMullan, A., Best, C.L., Veronen, L.J., & Resnick, H.S. (1989). Victim and crime factors associated with the development of crime-related post-traumatic stress disorder. Behavior Therapy, 20, 199–214.Google Scholar
Kimmel, H.D. (1979). Eysenck's model of neurotigenesis. Behavioral & Brain Science, 2, 171–172.Google Scholar
Lang, P.J. (1977). Imagery in therapy: An information processing analysis of fear. Behavior Therapy, 8, 862–886.Google Scholar
Lautch, H. (1971). Dental phobia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 119, 151–158.Google Scholar
Liddell, A., & Lyons, M. (1978). Thunderstorm phobias. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 16, 306–308.Google Scholar
Lubow, R.E. (1973). Latent inhibition. Psychological Bulletin, 79, 398–407.Google Scholar
Marks, I.M. (1976). Phobias and obsessions: Clinical phenomena in search of a laboratory model. In Maser, J. & Seligman, M.E.P. (Eds.), Psychopathology: Experimental models (pp. 174–213). San Francisco: Freeman.Google Scholar
Marks, I.M. (1987). Fears, phobias, and rituals. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Mathews, A.M. (1986). Cognitive processes in anxiety and depression: Discussion paper. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 79, 158–161.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mathews, A.M., Gelder, M.G., & Johnston, D.W. (1981). Agoraphobia: Nature and treatment. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Mathews, A.M., & MacLeod, C. (1985). Selective processing of threat cues in anxiety states. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 23, 563–569.Google Scholar
Mathews, A.M., Richards, A., & Eysenck, M. (1989). Interpretation of homophones related to threat in anxiety states. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 98, 31–34.Google Scholar
Pearlin, L.E., & Schooler, C. (1978). The structure of coping. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 19, 2–21.Google Scholar
Rachman, S. (1977). The conditioning theory of fear acquisition: A critical examination. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 15, 375–387.Google Scholar
Richards, M., & Martin, I. (1990). Eysenck's incubation of fear hypothesis: An experimental test. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 28, 373–384.Google Scholar
Ross, L. (1987). The problem of construal in social inference and social psychology. In Grunberg, N.E., Nisbett, R.E., Rodin, J., & Singer, J.E. (Eds.), A distinctive approach to psychological research: The influence of Stanley Schachter (pp. 118–150). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Seligman, M.E.P., & Binik, Y.M. (1977). The safety signal hypothesis. In Davis, H. & Hurwitz, H.M.B. (Eds.), Operant-Pavlovian interactions. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Siddle, D.A.T., & Remington, B. (1987). Latent inhibition and human Pavlovian conditioning: Research and relevance. In Davey, G.C.L. (Ed.), Cognitive processes and Pavlovian conditioning in humans (pp. 115–146). Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Sjoback, H. (1973). The psychoanalytic theory of defensive processes. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Spielberger, C.C. (1983). State-trait anxiety inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.Google Scholar
Stern, M.J., Pascale, L., & McLoone, J.B. (1976). Psychosocial adaptation following an acute myocardial infarction. Journal of Chronic Diseases, 29, 513–516.Google Scholar
Velten, E. (1968). A laboratory task for induction of mood states. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 6, 473–482.Google Scholar
Veronen, L.J., & Kilpatrick, D.G. (1983). Stress management for rape victims. In Meichenbaum, D. & Jaremko, M.E. (Eds.), Stress reduction and prevention. New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Weinberger, D.A. (1990). The construct validity of the repressive coping style. In Singer, J.L. (Ed.), Repression and dissociation (pp. 337–386). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Weinberger, D.A., Schwartz, G.E., & Davidson, R.J. (1979). Low-anxious, high-anxious, and repressive coping styles: Psychometric patterns and behavioral and physiological responses to stress. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 88, 369–380.Google Scholar
White, K., & Davey, G.C.L. (1989). Sensory preconditioning and UCS inflation. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 27, 161–166.Google Scholar
Wilson, G.D. (1968). Reversal of differential GSR conditioning by instructions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 76, 491–493.Google Scholar
Wolff, C.T., Friedman, S.B., Hofer, M.A., & Mason, J.W. (1964). Relationship between psychological defences and mean urinary 17-hydroxycorlicosteroid excretion rates, Parts I and II. Psychosomatic Medicine, 26, 576–609.Google Scholar
Zanna, M.P., & Aziza, C. (1976). On the interaction of repression-sensitisation and attention in resolving cognitive dissonance. Journal of Personality, 44, 577–593.Google Scholar