ABSTRACT
Color-naming interference on an emotional Stroop task was measured to assess attentional bias in information processing by 60 individuals diagnosed with generalized social phobia. Differential effects of three group treatments (exposure, cognitive restructuring + exposure, and cognitive restructuring + exposure + hypnosis), as well as their combined effect, and a no-treatment/wait-list control condition on color-naming interference were investigated after pre- and post-treatment and a 3-mo. follow-up. Differences among four treatment conditions (the three active treatments and the wait-list control condition) at the three assessment stages were not statistically significant in two-way repeated measure analyses of variance. The combined effect of the three treatment conditions was, however, statistically significant. Effect size analyses indicated to cognitive restructuring + exposure being the most effective treatment, but low statistical power prevented definite conclusions. Clinical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.
Subject(s)
Phobic Disorders/therapy , Psychotherapy, Group/methods , Stroop Test/statistics & numerical data , Adult , Emotions/physiology , Female , Humans , Male , Phobic Disorders/diagnosis , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
This study investigated the hypothesis that posttraumatic stress is associated with a judgement of risk bias, defined as an overestimation of the likelihood of the occurrence of adverse events, as proposed by information-processing theories of posttraumatic stress disorder. Emergency medical service personnel with high PTSD symptomatology (n =27) and without PTSD symptoms (n = 74) completed the PTSD Symptom Scale: Self-report version, the Work Experiences Questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory, and an Event Probability Questionnaire. Analysis showed that individuals with high PTSD symptomatology exhibited significantly more judgement of risk bias, that this cognitive bias was towards a wider range of threats than those involving only the threat of external harm, and that intrusion was its best predictor.
