Thesis (Ph.D.) in Psychology--University of Maine, 2008. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-125).

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Thesis (MA (Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / The main objective of the study was to adapt the Implicit Association Task (IAT) to asses implicit self-relevant fear associations in individuals suffering from social phobia and panic disorder. This involved the development of computerbased word stimuli classification tasks in which participants were expected to classify individually presented words belonging to one of four word categories, namely self-related ‘me’ words, other-related ‘not-me’ words, threat-related words (physical or social threat) and corresponding safety-related words. Two response keys on the computer were to be used, each representing two word categories during a specific trial (e.g., the one representing ‘me’ and ‘threat’, and the other ‘not-me’ and ‘safety’ words). The demanded task was to classify the presented words as quickly and accurately as possible. This resulted in the construction of the Physical Threat Implicit Association Task (PIAT) and the Social Threat Implicit Association Task (SIAT). Both IAT versions were administered to a group of 17 participants diagnosed with social phobia, 17 diagnosed with panic disorder, and 17 ‘normal’ controls. Fear-domain specific self-threat association biases were expected for the social phobics on the SIAT, for the panickers on the PIAT, as well as significant differences with the performances of the control group on the IAT tasks. A secondary objective of the study was to investigate the relationships between the IATs and performances on a variety of self-report scales, namely the Social Phobia Inventory, the Panic Disorder Severity Scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Beck Depression Inventory-II. In contrast to what was expected, the results of both the PIAT and SIAT did not demonstrate a facilitation of the classification task during trials when ‘me’ and ‘threat’ words were allocated to one category (i.e., response key), and ‘notme’ and ‘safety’ to the other. On the contrary, all three participant groups demonstrated significant effects in the opposite direction. Furthermore, the differences between the groups on both IATs were insignificant. With the exception of a significant, negative correlation between the results on the SIAT and the Social Phobia Inventory for the social phobia group, all the other IAT and self-report scale correlations were insignificant. The results were explained in terms of a newly proposed ‘two-forces’ cognitive theory. It was speculated that the IAT effects might have been the result of two opposing forces operating at different stages of the information processing system. This is namely (a) a disruption of performance by attention diversion during an early pre-attentive stage of processing, versus (b) a facilitation of the classification task by implicit association during later elaborative stages of processing, with the former apparently making the major contribution to the final IAT effect. This may be a phenomenon unique to anxiety disorders. The implications for future research of the findings and the newly proposed theory were also discussed.

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Much empirical evidence attests to a strong relationship between the panic-related disorders and alcoholism. Recent data suggest that anxiety sensitivity (fear of anxiety) may be one common underlying vailable contributing to the large degree of overlap between the panic-related disorders and alcoholism. In fact, some data indicate that the relationship between anxiety sensitivity and alcohol misuse may be particularly strong in women, a group which is generally underrepresented in the alcoholism etiology literature. Research described in this thesis was conducted with the aim of further elucidating the nature of the relationship between anxiety sensitivity and alcohol use/abuse in young adult women. The series of seven experiments included in this thesis demonstrated that: (1) high levels of anxiety sensitivity are characteristic of subjects meeting diagnostic criteria for panic disorder, an anxiety disorder frequently associated with alcohol abuse; (2) female university students demonstrate significantly higher average levels of anxiety sensitivity than male university students; (3) anxiety sensitivity is an important predictor of self-reported rates of alcohol consumption in university women; (4) high anxiety sensitive university students are both more likely to report drinking alcohol primarily to "cope" with negative emotional states, and less likely to report drinking alcohol primarily for social-affiliative motives, than are low anxiety sensitive university students; (5) high anxiety sensitive women display greater degrees of sober subjective-emotional arousal when anticipating aversive stimulation, greater degrees of sober electrodermal reactivity to the aversive stimulation, and greater sensitivity to the dampening effects of alcohol on these measures of reactivity, than low anxiety sensitive controls; (6) high anxiety sensitive women show a sober attentional bias favoring the processing of physically threatening information, which is dampened through th

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: Jeanne Watson.

Thesis (doctoral)--Lund University, 1996. / Added t.p. with thesis statement inserted.

Thesis (doctoral)--Lund University, 1996. / Added t.p. with thesis statement inserted.

Orientador: Albina Rodrigues Torres / Coorientador: Ana Teresa de Abreu Ramos Cerqueira / Banca: Flávia Helena Pereira Padovani / Banca: Flávia de Lima Osório / Resumo: Introdução: Várias são as razões pelas quais familiares de portadores de transtornos mentais podem sentir sobrecarga e sofrimento. Os pacientes podem apresentar comportamentos problemáticos e incapacidades, que geram dependência e impacto negativo na vida dos familiares, principalmente os cuidadores. Foram realizados vários estudos para medir esse impacto, mas principalmente em transtornos mentais mais graves, como esquizofrenia e demências. Já foi encontrada também sobrecarga relevante em familiares de pacientes com transtorno obsessivo-compulsivo, mas não há na literatura estudos sobre sobrecarga e sofrimento psíquico em familiares cuidadores de pacientes com transtorno de pânico e agorafobia (TPA). O TPA se caracteriza por crises intensas, inesperadas e recorrentes de ansiedade, associadas à ansiedade antecipatória e vários comportamentos de esquiva, por medo de ter novas crises em diversos locais e situações. Assim, em geral essas pessoas se tornam dependentes de algum familiar para realizar suas atividades da vida diária. Objetivos: Estimar a prevalência e a gravidade de sobrecarga e sofrimento psíquico (transtorno mental comum - TMC) em familiares de pacientes com TPA, assim como avaliar a associação de fatores demográficos e clínicos com estes dois desfechos. Método: Estudo transversal, com amostra clínica de adultos portadores de TPA (critérios do DSM-IV), em tratamento numa clínica privada de Bauru e no Ambulatório de Transtornos Ansiosos e Obsessivo-Compulsivos (ATAOC) do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu - UNESP de janeiro de 2011 a outubro de 2013. Os instrumentos de avaliação do cuidador foram: um questionário sobre dados sociodemográficos, a Carer Burden Interview (CBI), a Escala de Avaliação da Sobrecarga dos Familiares (FIBS-BR) e o Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ). Os instrumentos de avaliação dos pacientes foram: um questionário para avaliar características ... / Abstract: Introduction: There are many reasons for family members of patients with mental disorders to suffer and feel burdened. Psychiatric patients may present inappropriate behaviors and functional impairments, becoming dependent on others. This situation can have a negative impact on the lives of family members, especially the caregivers. There are several studies to measure this impact on caregivers, but they are mainly about major mental disorders, such as schizophrenia and dementia. High levels of family burden were also observed among Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) caregivers, but there are no studies on family burden and distress among Panic-Agoraphobic Disorder (PAD) caregivers. The main PAD features are: intense, unexpected and recurrent panic attacks in association with anticipatory anxiety and avoidance of places and/or situations due to fear of having another panic attack. So, in general, the patients become dependent upon family members for assistance in daily life activities. Objective: To estimate the prevalence and severity of the burden and psychological suffering (common mental disorder - CMD) in family members of patients with PAD. Method: It is a cross-sectional study, with a clinical sample of adults with PAD diagnosis (DSM-IV criteria), receiving treatment from a private clinic in Bauru and also at an outpatient service ("Ambulatório de Transtornos Ansiosos e Obsessivo-Compulsivos"- ATAOC) of the Botucatu Medical School (UNESP), State of São Paulo -Brazil, between January 2011 and October 2013. The assessment instruments used to evaluate the caregivers were: a questionnaire with sociodemographic data, the Carer Burden Interview (CBI), the Brazilian version of the Family Burden Interview Scale (FIBS-BR) and the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ). The instruments to assess the patients were: a questionnaire with sociodemographic and clinical data, the Panic and Agoraphobia Scale (PAS) to evaluate the severity of ... / Mestre