Background: It is unclear whether generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) has a specific relationship to pain syndromes, going beyond the established association of pain with anxiety syndromes in general. Methods: Mental disorders were assessed in a community sample (N = 4181; 18–65 years) using the DSM-IV/M-CIDI. Several threshold definitions were used to define GAD and medically unexplained pain. Results: The association between pain and GAD (odds ratio, OR = 5.8 pain symptoms; OR = 16.0 pain disorder) is stronger than the association between pain and other anxiety disorders (OR = 2.4 pain symptoms; OR = 4.0 pain disorder). This association extends to subthreshold level definitions of GAD with some indication for a non-linear dose–response relationship. The GAD-pain link cannot sufficiently be explained by demographic factors, comorbid mental or physical disorders. Conclusions: The association of pain and generalized anxiety is not artifactual. Compared to other anxiety syndromes, it appears to be stronger and more specific suggesting the need to explore clinical and public health implications.

Previous research has shown that Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is related to stress levels, poor sleep quality, female gender, and younger age. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine if stress level, sleep quality, gender, and age could predict an increased risk of developing GAD. We hypothesized that increased levels of stress, poorer sleep quality, female gender and younger age predicted an increased risk of developing GAD. A quantitative data collection was performed. The questionnaire was presented on Facebook and was sent by email to contacts at “Blekinge Tekniska Högskola” and “Telenor Connexion” who then forwarded the survey to their colleagues. This self-assessment survey was based on three measuring instruments “Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 item Scale” (GAD-7),” Karolinska Exhaustion Disorder Scale” (KEDS) and” Insomnia Severity Index” (ISI). A total of 154 participants (93 women, 61 men), were included in the study. The results from the study showed that stress level and age predicted an increased risk of suffering from GAD, where the variable stress level strongest predicted the risk of developing GAD. It could be concluded that stress level and age could predict an increased risk of developing GAD. / Tidigare forskning har visat att generaliserat ångestsyndrom (GAD) är relaterat till stress, sämre sömnkvalitet, kvinnligt kön och lägre åldrar. Därmed var syftet med föreliggande studie att undersöka om stressnivå, sömnkvalitet, kön och ålder kunde predicera en ökad risk för GAD. Studiens hypotes var att ökade nivåer av stress, sämre sömnkvalitet, kvinnligt kön och yngre ålder predicerade en ökad risk att drabbas av GAD. En kvantitativ datainsamling utfördes genom insamling från sociala medier såsom Facebook samt via email till kontaktpersoner från ”Blekinge Tekniska Högskola” och ”Telenor Connexion” som i sin tur vidarebefordrade enkäten till sina arbetskollegor. Enkäten som skickades ut var ett självskattningsformulär som baserades på de tre mätinstrumenten “Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 item Scale” (GAD-7),” Karolinska Exhaustion Disorder Scale” (KEDS) and ”Insomnia Severity Index” (ISI). Totalt deltog 154 personer (93 kvinnor, 61 män). Resultatet från studien visade att prediktorerna stressnivå och ålder kunde predicera en ökad risk att drabbas av GAD, där stressnivå i störst utsträckning kunde predicera GAD. Sammanfattningsvis kunde man dra slutsatsen att stressnivå och ålder kunde predicera en ökad risk för att utveckla GAD.

Thesis advisor: Elizabeth Kensinger / Individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) tend to have emotional memory biases in the encoding and retrieval of social memories. Research has shown reduced heart rate variability (HRV) in clinical populations suffering from anxiety, including social anxiety. Heightened sympathetic activation—as measured by the electrodermal activity (EDA)—has also been associated with anxiety disorders. The aim of the present study was to examine the relation between HRV, social anxiety, and re-experiencing of emotional autobiographical memories. 44 healthy young adults were recruited from the Boston College campus through SONA. Participants were given an online survey that instructed them to retrieve 40 specific events from the past in response to 40 socially relevant cues. For each event, participants were instructed to provide a brief narrative, make several ratings for the event (on a scale from 1-7), and indicate the specific emotions they experienced both at the time of retrieval and of the event. Approximately one month after the completion of the memory survey, participants engaged in a 2-hour memory retrieval session while undergoing psychophysiological monitoring (heart rate, skin conductance, and respiration). Following the retrieval task, participants completed self-report questionnaires of social anxiety symptom severity and trait emotion regulation strategy (i.e., tendency to reappraise or suppress emotions). The present study found that positive memories had higher re-experiencing ratings as compared to negative memories. Contrary to the original study hypothesis, however, there was no significant interaction between average re-experiencing (or arousal) ratings of positive or negative social autobiographical memories and SAD likelihood. A nonlinear, cubic relationship was found between one of three metrics of HRV and social anxiety symptom severity. A significant effect was found between skin conductance and SAD likelihood, which was likely driven by an almost significance difference in skin conductance between the SAD unlikely and the SAD very probable groups; these findings provide further insight into the relationship between autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning and social anxiety. Further, the present results suggest the intriguing possibility that there may be a nonlinear relationship between HRV and severity of social anxiety. Future research with a larger sample size is needed to corroborate these findings. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Psychology.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship betweensocial anxiety disorder and problematic internet use. Individuals withsocial anxiety disorder might prefer online interaction compared toface-to-face interaction. This could develop into problematic internetuse (PIU). PIU is when an individual uses the internet to the degreethat it negatively affects the individual’s life, based on Davis’ (2001)model of problematic internet use. The data was collected using anonline survey. There was a total of 484 participants in the finalanalyses, with 26.1% males, 71.5% females (Mage=27.99, SD= 10.1).First, a correlation analysis was done between social anxiety and PIU.The results showed that there was a positive correlation between socialanxiety and problematic internet use (r=.53). We then used age as amoderator to investigate if age had a moderating effect on socialanxiety and problematic internet use, using a moderation analysis. Theanalysis revealed a significant moderation effect of age, but a low leveloverall of PIU in the sample. This meant that even at high levels ofsocial anxiety, the sample did not display PIU-behaviors. Furtherresearch is needed to investigate the relationship between socialanxiety, PIU and what it looks like for different age groups. / Syftet med studien var att undersöka förhållandet mellan social fobioch problematisk internetanvändning och hur detta modererar medålder. Individer med social fobi kan uppleva det mer bekvämt attinteragera genom internet i jämförelse med i verkligheten. Detta kanleda till att individen utvecklar problematiskt internetanvändande(PIU). PIU innebär att en individ använder internet på ett sätt somnegativt påverkar individens liv, utifrån Davis (2001) modell förproblematiskt internetanvändande. Datainsamlingen skedde genom enwebbenkät. Totalt var det 484 deltagare i studien (Målder=27.99,SD=10.1), med 26.1% män och 71.5% kvinnor. Först genomfördes enkorrelationsanalys mellan social fobi och PIU. Resultaten visar att detfinns en positiv korrelation mellan social fobi och problematisktinternetanvändande (r=.53). Vi använde ålder som en variabel i vårforskning för att undersöka om ålder har en moderationseffekt påsocial fobi och problematiskt internetanvändande. För att undersökadetta genomförde vi en moderationsanalys. Resultaten visade att ålderhar en signifikant effekt på social fobi och PIU, men att det inte fannsen särskilt hög nivå av PIU hos deltagarna. Detta innebar att även vidhöga nivåer av social fobi uppvisade inte deltagarna PIU-beteenden.Framtida forskning är nödvändigt för att etablera hur förhållandetmellan social fobi och problematiskt internetanvändande ser ut mellanolika åldrar.

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Background: It is commonly assumed that there are clear lines of demarcation between anxiety and depressive disorders on the one hand and psychosis on the other. Recent evidence, however, suggests that this principle may be in need of updating. Methods: Depressive and/or anxiety disorders, with no previous history of psychotic disorder, were examined for the presence of psychotic symptoms in a representative community sample of adolescents and young adults (Early Developmental Stages of Psychopathology study; n=3021). Associations and consequences of psychotic symptomatology in the course of these disorders were examined in terms of demographic distribution, illness severity, onset of service use, and risk factors. Results: Around 27% of those with disorders of anxiety and depression displayed one or more psychotic symptoms, vs 14% in those without these disorders (OR 2.23, 95% CI 1.89–2.66, P < .001). Presence as compared with nonpresence of psychotic symptomatology was associated with younger age (P < .0001), male sex (P < .0058), and poorer illness course (P < .0002). In addition, there was greater persistence of schizotypal (P < .0001) and negative symptoms (P < .0170), more observable illness behavior (P < .0001), greater likelihood of service use (P < .0069), as well as more evidence of familial liability for mental illness (P < .0100), exposure to trauma (P < .0150), recent and more distant life events (P < .0006–.0244), cannabis use (P < .0009), and any drug use (P < .0008). Conclusion: Copresence of psychotic symptomatology in disorders of anxiety and depression is common and a functionally and etiologically highly relevant feature, reinforcing the view that psychopathology is represented by a network or overlapping and reciprocally impacting dimensional liabilities.

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Social anxiety disorder is the fourth most prevalent mental disorder in the US. Over the past several decades, psychotherapeutic, specifically cognitive behavioral, and pharmacologic approaches have been found efficacious for social anxiety disorder. A number of meta-analyses have been conducted since 1995 examining the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and/or pharmacotherapy for social anxiety disorder. Though there have been numerous trials in the past decade, no meta-analysis examining both psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy for social anxiety disorder has been published since 2001. For the present study, a comprehensive literature search produced 93 publications featuring 94 controlled trials (N = 11,503), which were included in the final analyses. We found a moderate to large effect size for all active treatments compared to control conditions. Significant heterogeneity among treatment effects was evident, largely accounted for by true variation between effects, versus standard error. Examination of potential study characteristic moderators indicated that treatment type (CBT, medication, combination), analysis type (intent-to-treat vs. completer), funding source, type of screening interview, type of treatment clinic (academic or private), version of diagnostic criteria, type of social anxiety sample (generalized social anxiety disorder only vs. mixed sample of generalized and specific social anxiety disorder) and type of inclusion/exclusion criteria related to other anxiety disorders were significant moderators. Publication type, inclusion/exclusion criteria related to depression and substance abuse/dependence, and full sample comorbidity with another disorder were not. Treatment type was no longer a significant moderator once control condition was accounted for. In psychotherapy trials, self-exposure (as compared to all other types of CBT) and psychotherapist training were significant moderators, whereas variables corresponding to treatment modality and delivery were not. Medication class and specific drug type were significant moderators for pharmacotherapy studies comparing an active treatment to a control condition. Head-to-head comparisons, which included trials comparing active treatments, indicated no differences between psychotherapy, medication, and the combination of the two. Further, social anxiety treatment had moderate to large effects on depression and quality of life. / Psychology