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Biomedical subjects

P Muris

Publications and source records attributed to P Muris.

87 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Acquisition and maintenance of dental anxiety: the role of conditioning experiences and cognitive factors.

This study presents a contribution to the understanding of the mechanisms that are involved in the development and maintenance of dental anxiety. Subjects were 224 undergraduate psychology students who completed questionnaires regarding dental anxiety, painful and traumatic experiences, negative cognitions, dental beliefs, and how their attitude to dental treatment had changed during their life. The results showed that both the extent to which earlier dental treatments were perceived as painful and the extent to which these incidents were reported as traumatic were significantly related to dental anxiety. Evidence was also found to support the latent inhibition hypothesis, which predicts that patients less easily acquire dental anxiety in case they received a number of relatively painless treatments prior to conditioning. Both findings confirmed those earlier obtained by Davey in a conceptually similar design (Behaviour Research and Therapy, 27, 51-58, 1989). In addition, frequency of negative cognitions about dental treatment and dental anxiety appeared to be positively related (r = 0.74; P < 0.001). Significant differences were found between highly anxious Ss and Ss showing low levels of anxiety on a variety of expectations and beliefs related to undergoing dental treatment. The results are discussed in terms of a cognitive-behavioural perspective of dental anxiety.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

One-session cognitive treatment of dental phobia: preparing dental phobics for treatment by restructuring negative cognitions.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a single session of cognitive restructuring in a sample of phobic dental patients. Fifty-two patients were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: cognitive restructuring (modification of negative cognitions), provision of information (about oral health and dental treatment), and a waiting list control condition. Both interventions maximally lasted one hour. In comparison with the waiting list control condition and the information intervention condition, the cognitive intervention condition not only showed a large decrease in frequency and believability of negative cognitions, but also exhibited a clear decline in dental trait anxiety. Analysis at a follow-up of one year demonstrated a further, drastic reduction in dental anxiety in both intervention conditions, wherein the difference among these conditions was not maintained. It is concluded that it is possible to obtain substantial reductions of dental trait anxiety through a single session of cognitive restructuring. Nevertheless, repeated exposure to the dental situation seems necessary for a further reduction of anxiety.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Hemisphere preference and EEG.

This study examined the association of scores on a paper-and-pencil test of hemispheric preference and EEG measures. No significant relationships between these two measures were found.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Knowledge of basic emotions in adolescent and adult individuals with autism.

An experiment was carried out in which 30 adolescent and adult patients with autism and 30 age- and IQ-matched Down syndrome patients were instructed to choose one of the chocolates that were hanging near four pictures displaying facial expressions of basic emotions (fear, anger, happiness, and sadness). As predicted, most of the Down syndrome patients took the chocolate near the happy face picture. Unexpectedly, however, autistic patients made more responses to the fearful face picture. Also, Down syndrome patients were more capable of naming the four basic emotions than autistic patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Handedness, symptom reporting, and accident susceptibility.

A cross-sectional design was used to examine the relationship among handedness, self-reported symptoms, and accident susceptibility in a nonclinical sample (N = 285). Left-handedness was not found to be associated with elevated symptom reporting (and, consequently, health problems) and accident susceptibility. Thus, the present findings do not support the hypothesis that left-handedness is accompanied by reduced physical fitness or accident proneness.

Accident Proneness↗
PubMed1994

Cognitive correlates of dental anxiety.

This study examined cognitive correlates of dental anxiety among 24 highly anxious patients and 17 low-anxious patients. In both groups, anxiety expectations, dental trait anxiety, and state anxiety (in the waiting room and in the dental chair) were rated. Negative cognitions and cognitive control were also assessed. It was found that dentally high-anxious patients claimed to experience more negative thoughts than those with low anxiety (p < 0.001). None of the highly anxious patients reported relatively few negative cognitions, and none of the patients in the low-anxiety group reported relatively numerous negative cognitions. While patients from both groups reported that cognitive control declined with the imminence of treatment, highly anxious patients were found to have less control over their negative thoughts (p < 0.001). A series of stepwise regression analyses revealed that both the number of negative cognitions and perceived cognitive control accounted for 75% of the variance in dental trait anxiety. The results of the present study suggest that cognitive activities, such as negative thinking (catastrophizing) and cognitive control, are important moderators of dental anxiety.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Verbalization and environmental cuing in thought suppression.

Research on thought suppression has yielded a morass of conflicting results. While some studies show that suppression of a thought results in a rebound effect (i.e. a heightened frequency of this thought later on), other studies failed to demonstrate this phenomenon. The first aim of the present study was to investigate whether the method used to study stream of consciousness (verbalization vs thinking silently) affects the report of target thoughts in a thought suppression experiment. Second, the claim that environmental cuing (i.e. distraction by directing attention towards external cues) is the mechanism behind the recurrence of suppressed items was examined. Results indicated that the method used to monitor stream of consciousness did not modulate the report of target thoughts: in fact, no rebound effect occurred. However, results did support the suggestion that heightened frequencies of suppressed material are related to environmental cuing.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Suppression of emotional and neutral material.

Previous studies have indicated that suppression of a thought results in an immediate increase of the frequency of this thought and/or in a rebound effect, i.e. in a heightened frequency of this thought later on. The present study (n = 53) examined the relationship between suppression and emotionality of the to-be-suppressed material. More specifically, it was investigated whether suppression of an emotional story results in stronger immediate enhancement or thought rebounds than suppression of a neutral story. There was a clear initial enhancement effect in the group suppressing a neutral story: subjects who tried to suppress experienced more target thoughts than subjects who did not try to suppress. In the neutral-story conditions, no rebound effect occurred. In the groups exposed to an emotional story, there was neither evidence of initial enhancement nor of a rebound. As most obsessions are related to emotional themes, the present findings cast doubt on the claim that the rebound phenomenon represents a valid laboratory model for clinical obsessions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Monitoring, medical fears and physical symptoms.

In this study it was found that subjects with a high monitoring coping style had higher scores on the blood injury scale of the Fear Questionnaire and reported more physical symptoms on the Pennebaker Inventory of Limbic Languidness than those with a low monitoring style. Implications of these findings are briefly discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1990

Hemisphere preference, phobia, and depression.

The present study was undertaken in order to examine whether depression and anxiety are related to preference for a right hemisphere mode of thinking. On the basis of a paper-and-pencil test presumably measuring hemisphere preference (Preference Test; Zenhausern, 1978), normal subjects (N = 75) were assigned to a group characterized by a left hemisphere thinking style, a group characterized by a right hemisphere thinking style and a group with mixed tendencies (left and right hemisphere tendencies). Additionally, subjects completed the Fear Questionnaire and the Depression Symptom Inventory. It was found that subjects with a right hemisphere thinking style reported more depressive and fear symptoms than subjects with a left hemisphere thinking style. This finding is in line with theories which assume that the right hemisphere is characterized by a negative, dysphoric emotional tendency.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Individual differences in thought suppression. The White Bear Suppression Inventory: factor structure, reliability, validity and correlates.

The White Bear Suppression Inventory [WBSI; Wegner, D.M. & Zanakos, S. (1994), Journal of Personality, 62, 615-640] is a self-report questionnaire measuring people's general tendency to suppress unwanted negative thoughts. The current article describes two studies investigating the reliability, factor structure, validity, and correlates of the WBSI. Study 1 (n = 172) showed that the WBSI is a reliable instrument in terms of internal consistency and test-retest stability. Factor analyses of the WBSI revealed a 1-factor solution. Furthermore, the WBSI was found to correlate positively with measures of emotional vulnerability and psychopathological symptoms. In Study 2 (n = 40), the relationship between WBSI and levels of intrusive thinking was examined in more detail, using a thought suppression task. In general, results of this thought suppression experiment provided evidence for the validity of the WBSI. That is, subjects with high WBSI scores exhibited higher frequencies of unwanted intrusive thoughts than subjects with low WBSI scores.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Pathways to fear in spider phobic children.

Twenty-two children with spider phobia were interviewed about the origins of their fear. More specifically, children were asked about conditioning events, modeling experiences, and negative information transmission. To evaluate the reliability of the information provided by the children, parents were independently interviewed about the origins of their children's phobias. While 46% of the children claimed to have always been afraid, 41% ascribed the onset of their fear to aversive conditioning events. The large majority of these events were confirmed by parents. These findings cast doubts on a strong version of the non-associative account of spider phobia, i.e. the idea that spider phobia is acquired in the complete absence of learning experiences.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Comorbid anxiety symptoms in children with pervasive developmental disorders.

The present study examined the prevalence of comorbid anxiety symptoms in 44 children with pervasive developmental disorders. Parents of the children were interviewed using the Anxiety Disorders section of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children. Results indicated that severe anxiety symptoms are highly prevalent in children with pervasive developmental disorders: 84.1% of the children met the full criteria for at least one anxiety disorder. Furthermore, 72.7% of the children displayed ritualistic behaviors. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Traumatic memories, eye movements, phobia, and panic: a critical note on the proliferation of EMDR.

In the past years, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) has become increasingly popular as a treatment method for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The current article critically evaluates three recurring assumptions in EMDR literature: (a) the notion that traumatic memories are fixed and stable and that flashbacks are accurate reproductions of the traumatic incident; (b) the idea that eye movements, or other lateralized rhythmic behaviors have an inhibitory effect on emotional memories; and (c) the assumption that EMDR is not only effective in treating PTSD, but can also be successfully applied to other psychopathological conditions. There is little support for any of these three assumptions. Meanwhile, the expansion of the theoretical underpinnings of EMDR in the absence of a sound empirical basis casts doubts on the massive proliferation of this treatment method.

Desensitization, Psychologic↗