Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T01:55:19.328Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Is Post-Event Processing a Social Anxiety Specific or Transdiagnostic Cognitive Process in the Anxiety Spectrum?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 September 2013

Judith M. Laposa*
Affiliation:
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and University of Toronto, Canada
Kelsey C. Collimore
Affiliation:
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Canada
Neil A. Rector
Affiliation:
University of Toronto, and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Canada
*
Reprint requests to Judith Laposa, Anxiety Disorders Clinic, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5T 1R8, Canada. E-mail: judith_laposa@camh.net

Abstract

Background: Research on post-event processing (PEP), where individuals conduct a post-mortem evaluation of a social situation, has focused primarily on its relationship with social anxiety. Aims: The current study examined: 1) levels of PEP for a standardized event in different anxiety disorders; 2) the relationship between peak anxiety levels during this event and subsequent PEP; and 3) the relationship between PEP and disorder-specific symptom severity. Method: Participants with primary DSM-IV diagnoses of social anxiety disorder (SAD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder with/without agoraphobia (PD/A), or generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) completed diagnosis specific symptom measures before attending group cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) specific to their diagnosis. Participants rated their peak anxiety level during the first group therapy session, and one week later rated PEP in the context of CBT. Results: The results indicated that all anxiety disorder groups showed heightened and equivalent PEP ratings. Peak state anxiety during the first CBT session predicted subsequent level of PEP, irrespective of diagnostic group. PEP ratings were found to be associated with disorder-specific symptom severity in SAD, GAD, and PD/A, but not in OCD. Conclusions: PEP may be a transdiagnostic process with relevance to a broad range of anxiety disorders, not just SAD.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2013 

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

Abbott, M. J. and Rapee, R. M. (2004). Post-event rumination and negative self-appraisal in social phobia before and after treatment. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 113, 136144.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., Text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.Google Scholar
Baer, L., Brown-Beasley, M. W., Sorce, J. and Henriques, A. I. (1993). Computer-assisted telephone administration of a structured interview for obsessive-compulsive disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 17371738.Google Scholar
Barnhofer, T. and Chitka, T. (2010). Cognitive reactivity mediates the relationship between neuroticism and depression. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 48, 275281.Google Scholar
Brown, T. A., Antony, M. M. and Barlow, D. H. (1992). Psychometric properties of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire in a clinical anxiety disorders sample. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 30, 3337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brozovich, F. and Heimberg, R. G. (2008). An analysis of post-event processing in social anxiety disorder. Clinical Psychology Review, 28, 891903.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carleton, R. N., Collimore, K. C., McCabe, R. E. and Antony, M. M. (2011). Addressing revisions to the Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale: measuring fear of negative evaluation across anxiety and mood disorders. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 25, 822828.Google Scholar
Clark, D. M. and Wells, A. (1995). A cognitive model of social phobia. In Heimberg, R.G., Liebowitz, M.R., Hope, D.A. and Schneier, F.R. (Eds.), Social Phobia: diagnosis, assessment and treatment (pp. 6993). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Cody, M. W. and Teachman, B. A. (2010). Post-event processing and memory bias for performance feedback in social anxiety. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 24, 468479.Google Scholar
Dannahy, L. and Stopa, L. (2007). Post event processing in social anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45, 12071219.Google Scholar
Edwards, S. L., Rapee, R. M. and Franklin, J. (2003). Post event rumination and recall bias for a social performance event in high and low socially anxious individuals. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 27, 603617.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehring, T. and Watkins, E. (2008). Repetitive negative thinking as a transdiagnostic process. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 1, 192205.Google Scholar
First, M. B., Spitzer, R. L., Gibbon, M. and Williams, J. B. W. (1996). Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders: patient edition (SC1D-1/P, Version 2.0). New York: Biometrics Research, State Psychiatric Institute.Google Scholar
First, M. B., Spitzer, R. L., Gibbon, M. and Williams, J. B. W. (2002). Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR Axis I Disorders: research version, patient edition (SC1D-1/P). New York: Biometrics Research, State Psychiatric Institute.Google Scholar
Harvey, A. G., Watkins, E. R., Mansell, W. and Shafran, R. (2004). Cognitive Behavioral Processes across Psychological Disorders: a transdiagnostic approach to research and treatment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heimberg, R.G. and Becker, R.E. (2002). Cognitive-Behavioural Group Therapy for Social Phobia: basic mechanisms and clinical strategies. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Heimberg, R. G., Mueller, G. P., Holt, C. S., Hope, D. A. and Liebowitz, M.R. (1992). Assessment of anxiety in social interaction and being observed by others: the social interaction anxiety scale and the social phobia scale. Behavior Therapy, 23, 5373.Google Scholar
Hodson, K. J., McManus, F. V., Clark, D. M. and Doll, H. (2008). Can Clark and Wells’ (1995) cognitive model of social phobia be applied to young people. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 36, 449461.Google Scholar
Houck, P. R., Speigel, D. A., Shear, M. K. and Rucci, P. (2002). Reliability of the self-report version of the panic disorder severity scale. Depression and Anxiety, 15, 183185.Google Scholar
Kertz, S. J., Bigda-Peyton, J. S., Rosmarin, D. H. and Björgvinsson, T. (2012). The importance of worry across diagnostic presentations: prevalence, severity and associated symptoms in a partial hospital setting. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 26, 126133.Google Scholar
Kocovski, N. L., Endler, N. S., Rector, N. A. and Flett, G. L. (2005). Ruminative coping and post-event processing in social anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 43, 971984.Google Scholar
Kocovski, N. L. and Rector, N. A. (2007). Predictors of post-event rumination related to social anxiety. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 36, 112122.Google Scholar
Kocovski, N. L. and Rector, N. A. (2008). Post-event processing in social anxiety disorder: idiosyncratic priming in the course of CBT. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 32, 2336.Google Scholar
Laposa, J.M. and Rector, N.A. (2011). A prospective examination of predictors of post-event processing following videotaped exposures in group cognitive behavioural therapy for individuals with social phobia. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 25, 568573.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lundh, L. and Sperling, M. (2002). Social anxiety and the post-event processing of socially distressing events. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, 31, 129134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mataix-Cols, D., Rosario-Campos, M. C. and Leckman, J. F. (2005). A multidimensional model of obsessive-compulsive disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 228238.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mattick, R. P. and Clarke, J. C. (1998). Development and validation of measures of social phobia scrutiny fear and social interaction anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 455470.Google Scholar
McLaughlin, K. A. and Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2011). Rumination as a transdiagnostic factor in depression and anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 49, 186193.Google Scholar
Meyer, T. J., Miller, M. L., Metzger, R. L. and Borkovec, T. D. (1990). Development and validation of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 28, 487495.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muris, P., Roelofs, J., Rassin, E., Franken, I. and Mayer, B. (2005). Mediating effects of rumination and worry on the links between neuroticism, anxiety and depression. Personality and Individual Differences, 39, 11051111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Wisco, B. E. and Lyubomirsky, S. (2008). Rethinking rumination. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3, 400424.Google Scholar
Perini, S. J., Abbott, M. J. and Rapee, R. M. (2006). Perception of performance as a mediator in the relationship between social anxiety and negative post-event rumination. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 30, 645659.Google Scholar
Rachman, S. J., Gruter-Andrew, J. and Shafran, R. (2000). Post-event processing in social anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 38, 611617.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rapee, R. M. and Heimberg, R. G. (1997). A cognitive-behavioral model of anxiety in social phobia. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35, 741756.Google Scholar
Rector, N. A., Antony, M., Laposa, J. M., Kocovski, N. and Swinson, R. (2008). Assessing content domains of repetitive thought in the anxiety spectrum: rumination and worry in nonclinical and clinical samples. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 1, 352377.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riskind, J. H. (1997). Looming vulnerability to threat: a cognitive paradigm for anxiety. Behavior Research and Therapy, 35, 685702.Google Scholar
Riskind, J. H., Rector, N. A. and Cassin, S. E. (2011). Examination of the convergent validity of looming vulnerability in the anxiety disorders. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 25, 989993.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roelofs, J., Huibers, M., Peeters, F. and Arntz, A. (2008). Effects of neuroticism on depression and anxiety: rumination as a possible mediator. Personality and Individual Differences, 44, 576586.Google Scholar
Roelofs, J., Huibers, M., Peeters, F., Arntz, A. and van Os, J. (2008). Rumination and worrying as possible mediators in the relation between neuroticism and symptoms of depression and anxiety in clinically depressed individuals. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46, 12831289.Google Scholar
Shear, M. K., Brown, T. A., Barlow, D. H., Money, R., Sholomskas, D. E., Woods, S. W., et al. (1997). Multicenter collaborative panic disorder severity scale. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 15711575.Google Scholar
Spielberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. L., Luschene, R. E., Vagg, P. R. and Jacobs, G. A. (1983). Manual for the State Trait Anxiety Inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.Google Scholar
Steketee, G., Frost, R. and Bogart, K. (1996). The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale: interview versus self-report. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 34, 675684.Google Scholar
Watkins, E. (2008). Constructive and unconstructive repetitive thought. Psychological Bulletin, 134, 165206.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wuyek, L. A., Antony, M. M. and McCabe, R. E. (2011). Psychometric properties of the panic disorder severity scale: clinician administered and self-report versions. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 18, 234243.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.