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Biomedical subjects

C R Brewin

Publications and source records attributed to C R Brewin.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1996

Illusions of well-being and the repressive coping style.

Recently, the proposition that it is normal for people to see themselves in illusorily positive terms has been challenged and it has been suggested that this phenomenon may be explained by the contribution of subgroups of overly positive individuals. We investigated this possibility by examining the contribution of repressive individuals, who tend to avoid negative affect, to the illusions of unrealistic optimism and overly positive self-evaluations. Whereas normal and non-anxious controls showed no evidence of illusory biases, repressors rated themselves as significantly less likely than the average person to experience negative events, and rated negative words as significantly less descriptive of self than others. These findings support the hypothesis that, in judgements involving negative material, the presence of repressors may be contributing to findings of illusory biases.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1996

Self-critical attitudes and parental criticism in young women.

It has been suggested that self-criticism derived from the family environment is a major vulnerability factor for depression. We tested in a sample of young women the hypothesis that self-criticism would be linked to parental reports of criticism, with perceived parental criticism playing a mediating role. Results indicated that self-criticism over appearance was independent of the other types of self-criticism measured. The data revealed additionally that self-criticism was related, independently of depression, to perceived parental criticism, but not to parents' own reports of criticism. Self-criticism over appearance was not related to parental variables.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Theoretical foundations of cognitive-behavior therapy for anxiety and depression.

Cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) involves a highly diverse set of terms and procedures. In this review, the origins of CBT are briefly considered, and an integrative theoretical framework is proposed that (a) distinguishes therapy interventions targeted at circumscribed disorders from those targeted at generalized disorders and (b) distinguishes interventions aimed at modifying conscious beliefs and representations from those aimed at modifying unconscious representations in memory. Interventions aimed at altering consciously accessible beliefs are related to their theoretical bases in appraisal theories of emotion and cognitive theories of emotion and motivation. Interventions aimed at modifying unconscious representations are related to their theoretical bases in learning theory and findings from experimental cognitive psychology. In the review, different formulations of CBT for anxiety disorders and depression are analyzed in terms of this framework, and theoretical issues relating to self-representations in memory and to emotional processing are considered.

Anxiety Disorders↗
PubMed1995

Autobiographical memory functioning in depression and reports of early abuse.

The authors investigated the memory functioning of depressed women patients with and without a reported history of child physical or sexual abuse using J. M. G. Williams and K. Broadbent's (1986) Autobiographical Memory Test. Whereas latency to recall autobiographical memories was not related to reports of abuse, patients who reported childhood sexual abuse produced more overgeneral memories to positive and negative cues. In addition, patients reporting high levels of avoidance of spontaneous memories of childhood physical or sexual abuse in the past week retrieved more overgeneral memories to positive and negative cues.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Intrusive memories of childhood abuse during depressive episodes.

A sample of adult women with major depression who reported childhood sexual or physical abuse completed a measure of the extent to which they were experiencing intrusive memories of the abuse and their efforts to avoid these memories. The majority of women in the sample reported high levels of disturbing intrusive memories, and high levels of avoidance. Those abused women with particularly high levels of intrusions and more avoidance were also more severely depressed than both non-abused women and abused women with low levels of intrusions and avoidance. Higher levels of intrusions and avoidance were also associated with repeated childhood abuse, sexual abuse involving intercourse and sexual abuse involving a primary caregiver.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Changes in attribution and expressed emotion among the relatives of patients with schizophrenia.

The study investigated whether reductions in hostility and criticism in the relatives of psychiatric patients would be associated with changes in their beliefs about the causes of the patient's symptoms and negative behaviours. Twenty-six relatives of patients with schizophrenia were assessed both before and after taking part in interventions designed to reduce levels of expressed emotion. Over the course of the interventions there was a general reduction in relatives' criticism and hostility, a shift towards making more universal attributions for patients' negative behaviours and more use of attributions to illness. Reductions in criticism were not related to attributional change, but reductions in hostility were associated with shifts towards more universal and uncontrollable attributions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Recall of early experience and the repressive coping style.

We investigated recall of early experience and the repressive coping style by testing hypotheses concerning restricted access to negative childhood memories and eliciting accounts of quality of parenting received. Repressors free recalled fewer negative childhood memories than nonrepressors, and the age of first negative memory for repressors was older both in free recall and cued recall. Repressors' also took longer to retrieve negative childhood memories but not positive memories. Repressors' accounts of their childhoods were more likely to be characterized by paternal antipathy and indifference, and they were less likely to report an emotionally or physically close relationship with their fathers.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1994

Alprazolam and exposure for panic disorder with agoraphobia. Attribution of improvement to medication predicts subsequent relapse.

Patients with panic disorder plus agoraphobia had 8 weeks of drug treatment (alprazolam or placebo) plus psychological treatment (exposure or relaxation). At the end of treatment at week 8, 40 patients who had become much/very much improved rated how much their gains were attributable to medication or to their own efforts. During the tapering-off to week 16, and treatment-free follow-up to week 43, patients who at week 8 had attributed their gains to medication and felt less confident in coping without tablets had more severe withdrawal symptoms and greater loss of gains than did patients who at week 8 had attributed their gains to their own efforts during treatment. Baseline illness severity, greater age, higher expectations from drug treatment, and more side-effects of drugs during treatment all predicted more external attributions (i.e. to the effect of drugs) but did not independently predict relapse. Patients on alprazolam compared with placebo had more drug attributions. Though drug attributions predicted relapse in both alprazolam and placebo groups, predictions were stronger in the alprazolam group.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

The relationship of social network deficits with deficits in social functioning in long-term psychiatric disorders.

It has been suggested that deficits or impairments in social functioning may explain the depleted support networks of the mentally ill. With this in mind, 145 long-term users of day care psychiatric facilities, 57% of whom had a life-time diagnosis of schizophrenia, were examined to determine whether deficits in social and survival skills explained deficits in their social networks. Compared with patients with acute depression, long-term patients had smaller social networks. There was a very small but statistically significant association between observer ratings of deficits in social functioning (daily social and living skills) and self-reported family social networks size. Behavioural problems were also associated with smaller family networks. Among the long-term patients, duration of service contact and type of disorder (affective vs nonaffective psychosis) were not related to network size. These preliminary findings are discussed.

Female↗
PubMed1993

Psychopathology and early experience: a reappraisal of retrospective reports.

Three potential sources of error in retrospective reports of childhood experiences are documented: low reliability and validity of autobiographical memory in general, the presence of general memory impairment associated with psychopathology, and the presence of specific mood-congruent memory biases associated with psychopathology. The evidence reviewed suggests that claims concerning the general unreliability of retrospective reports are exaggerated and that there is little reason to link psychiatric status with less reliable or less valid recall of early experiences. Nevertheless, it is clear that steps must be taken to overcome the limitations of retrospective reports and enhance their reliability.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Causal attributions and post-traumatic stress in adolescents.

The aim of the present study was to explore the relationship between causal attributions made by adolescent survivors of the Jupiter cruise ship sinking, and post-traumatic symptomatology in the year following disaster. Evidence is presented that more internal causal attributions for negative and uncontrollable events during the incident are associated with greater post-traumatic stress one year later. The findings are discussed with reference to an attributional model of shame.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

State and trait differences in depressive self-perceptions.

A number of investigators have interpreted a tendency for depressed people to recall more negative than positive self-referent adjectives as evidence for a depressive self-schema made up of predominantly negative characterological information. We sought to confirm this account by eliciting the subjective self-perceptions of the depressed. Depressed patients and controls were required to rate whether or not a series of positive and negative adjectives applied to them during the previous week, at any time, and generally. The depressed distinguished clearly between these questions and, although describing themselves currently in largely negative terms, described their general state as equally composed of positive and negative elements.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Self-criticism in adulthood and recalled childhood experience.

We investigated in a sample of 75 medical students the hypothesis that higher levels of self-criticism, a major vulnerability factor for depression, are related to retrospective reports of less satisfactory parenting, even when the potentially confounding factors of mood state and social desirability response set are controlled. At each of 2 measurement times, there were significant cross-sectional correlations between parental ratings and both depression and self-criticism, but the associations with self-criticism were no longer significant when depression was controlled. However, even after controlling for the effects of mood state and social desirability, persons with high levels of self-criticism at both measurement points (high trait self-criticism subjects) reported significantly worse relationships with their mothers than did the remaining subjects. They were also more likely to report below average relationships with both parents jointly.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Attributions and relapse in opiate addicts.

This study investigated whether attributions of opiate addicts would predict both their ability to abstain from future use and their reactions to abstinence violations. Measures of generalized beliefs about responsibility for positive and negative outcomes and specific attributions about relapse episodes were elicited from 80 addicts at the time of admission for inpatient detoxification and treatment. Addicts who at admission attributed to themselves greater responsibility for negative outcomes and who attributed relapse episodes to more personally controllable factors were subsequently (at 6-month follow-up) more likely either to be completely abstinent or to contain the effects of temporary lapses into opiate use.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1992

Causal beliefs about depression in depressed patients, clinical psychologists and lay persons.

Non-depressed lay persons have been shown to have extensive and accurate knowledge about depression (Rippere, 1977, 1980 a, b, 1981 a) that is underpinned by a structure that resembles current academic theories of the disorder (Furnham & Kuyken, 1991). In this study a semi-structured interview schedule and a number of rating scales were used to determine and compare the nature and extent of depressed patients', clinical psychologists', and lay persons' beliefs about the causes of depression. We confirmed that depressed patients and non-depressed lay persons alike have relatively extensive beliefs about the causes of depression which are comparable to those held by clinical psychologists. However, depressed patients tend to endorse biological explanations of the causes of depression to a greater extent than clinical psychologists. In contrast, clinical psychologists assign a more important causal role to unconscious processes and childhood vulnerability factors than do either depressed patients or non-depressed lay controls.

Adjustment Disorders↗