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Deits-Lebehn C, Baucom KJW, Crenshaw AO, Smith TW, Baucom BRW. Incorporating physiology into the study of psychotherapy process. J Couns Psychol 2020; 67:488-499. [PMID: 32614229 PMCID: PMC7899534 DOI: 10.1037/cou0000391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Increasing evidence indicates that psychological factors important to therapy effectiveness are associated with physiological activity. Knowledge of the physiological correlates of therapy process variables has the potential to provide unique insights into how and why therapy works, but little is currently known about the physiological underpinnings of specific therapy processes that facilitate client growth and change. The goal of this article is to introduce therapy process researchers to the use of physiological methods for studying therapy process variables. We do this by (a) presenting a conceptual framework for the study of therapy process variables, (b) providing an introductory overview of physiological systems with particular promise for the study of therapy process variables, (c) introducing the primary methods and methodological decisions involved in physiological research, and (d) demonstrating these principles and methods in a case of therapeutic presence during couple therapy. We close with a discussion of the promise and challenges in the study of physiological correlates of therapy process variables and consideration of future challenges and open questions in this line of research. Online supplemental materials include additional resources for therapy process researchers interested in getting started with physiological research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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Ruiz JM, Taylor DJ, Uchino BN, Smith TW, Allison M, Ahn C, Johnson JJ, Smyth JM. Evaluating the longitudinal risk of social vigilance on atherosclerosis: study protocol for the North Texas Heart Study. BMJ Open 2017; 7:e017345. [PMID: 28808040 PMCID: PMC5791551 DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-017345] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2017] [Accepted: 04/24/2017] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Psychosocial factors are increasingly recognised as important determinants of cardiovascular disease risk. The North Texas Heart Study aims to understand the mechanisms responsible for this association with a focus on social vigilance (ie, scanning the environment for social threats). There is also growing interest in supplementing traditional methods (eg, survey assessment of psychosocial risk paired with cross-sectional and longitudinal health outcomes) with daily or repeated momentary assessment of psychosocial factors. However, there are relatively few longitudinal studies directly comparing these approaches with hard endpoints. METHODS AND ANALYSIS The North Texas Heart Study proposes a longitudinal measurement burst design to examine psychosocial determinants of subclinical atherosclerosis. A sample of 300 healthy community participants, stratified by age and gender, will complete survey measures, as well as 2 days of ecological momentary assessment at baseline and at a 2-year follow-up. A range of psychosocial and behavioural factors, objective biomarkers, as well as carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) will be assessed at both time points. Unadjusted and adjusted models will evaluate cross-sectional associations and determinants of change in the cIMT. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION The Institutional Review Board at the study coordinating institute (University of North Texas) has approved this study. Positive, negative or inconclusive primary and ancillary findings will be disseminated in scientific journals and conferences.
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Affiliation(s)
- John M Ruiz
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Daniel J Taylor
- Department of Psychology, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA
| | - Bert N Uchino
- Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
| | - Timothy W Smith
- Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
| | - Matthew Allison
- Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California, San Diego, California, USA
| | - Chul Ahn
- Department of Clinical Sciences, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Jillian J Johnson
- Department of Biobehavioral Health, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Joshua M Smyth
- Department of Biobehavioral Health, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
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Himmelstein MS, Young DM, Sanchez DT, Jackson JS. Vigilance in the discrimination-stress model for Black Americans. Psychol Health 2014; 30:253-67. [PMID: 25247925 DOI: 10.1080/08870446.2014.966104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Daily events of discrimination are important factors in understanding health disparities. Vigilant coping, or protecting against anticipated discrimination by monitoring and modifying behaviour, is an understudied mechanism that may link discrimination and health outcomes. This study investigates how responding to everyday discrimination with anticipatory vigilance relates to the health of Black men and women. METHODS Black adults (N = 221) from the Detroit area completed measures of discrimination, adverse life events, vigilance coping, stress, depressive symptoms and self-reported health. RESULTS Vigilance coping strategies mediated the relationship between discrimination and stress. Multi-group path analysis revealed that stress in turn was associated with increased depression in men and women. Self-reported health consequences of stress differed between men and women. CONCLUSIONS Vigilance coping mediates the link between discrimination and stress, and stress has consequences for health outcomes resulting from discrimination. More research is needed to understand other underlying contributors to discrimination, stress and poor health outcomes as well as to create potential interventions to ameliorate health outcomes in the face of discrimination-related stress.
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Silvia PJ, Jones HC, Kelly CS, Zibaie A. Masked first name priming increases effort-related cardiovascular reactivity. Int J Psychophysiol 2011; 80:210-6. [PMID: 21439332 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.03.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2011] [Revised: 03/09/2011] [Accepted: 03/15/2011] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Recent research on motivational intensity has shown that explicit manipulations of self-focused attention (e.g., mirrors and video cameras) increase effort-related cardiovascular responses during active coping. An experiment examined whether masked first name priming, an implicit manipulation of self-focused attention, had similar effects. Participants (n=52 young adults) performed a self-paced cognitive task, in which they were told to get as many trials correct as possible within 5min. During the task, the participant's first name was primed for 0%, 33%, 67%, or 100% of the trials. First name priming, regardless of its frequency, significantly increased cardiovascular reactivity, particularly systolic blood pressure (SBP) reactivity. Furthermore, the priming manipulation interacted with individual differences in trait self-focus: trait self-focus predicted higher SBP reactivity in the 0% condition, but first name priming eliminated the effects of individual differences. Implications for self-awareness research and for the emerging interest in priming effects on effort are considered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul J Silvia
- Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro NC 27402-6170, USA.
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Trait self-focused attention, task difficulty, and effort-related cardiovascular reactivity. Int J Psychophysiol 2010; 79:335-40. [PMID: 21145360 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2010.11.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2010] [Revised: 11/19/2010] [Accepted: 11/30/2010] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Using motivational intensity theory as a framework, the present experiment examined how individual differences in self-focused attention interact with task difficulty to predict effort, assessed via cardiovascular reactivity. Participants (n = 50) worked on a cognitive task fixed at an easy, medium, or hard level of difficulty, and individual differences in private self-consciousness and self-reflection were measured. Regression models indicated that trait self-focus interacted with task difficulty to predict cardiovascular reactivity, particularly systolic blood pressure (SBP) reactivity. Participants low and high in trait self-focus showed similar SBP reactivity in the easy and medium conditions, but they diverged in the hard condition: High trait focus was associated with higher SBP reactivity, indicating greater effort, whereas low trait self-focus was associated with low SBP reactivity, indicating disengagement. The findings thus support the motivational intensity approach to effort and its interpretation of self-focus's role in effort mobilization.
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Smith TW, Traupman EK, Uchino BN, Berg CA. Interpersonal circumplex descriptions of psychosocial risk factors for physical illness: application to hostility, neuroticism, and marital adjustment. J Pers 2010; 78:1011-36. [PMID: 20573134 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00641.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Personality risk factors for physical illness are typically studied individually and apart from risk factors reflecting the social environment, potentially fostering a piecemeal understanding of psychosocial influences on health. Because it can be used to describe both personality and social relationship processes, the interpersonal circumplex (IPC) provides an integrative approach to psychosocial risk. In 301 married couples we examined IPC correlates of 3 risk factor domains: anger, hostility, and aggressiveness; neuroticism; and marital adjustment. Risk factors displayed IPC locations ranging from hostile dominance (e.g., verbal aggressiveness, marital conflict) to hostility (e.g., anger) to hostile submissiveness (e.g., anxiety, depression); protective factors (marital satisfaction and support) reflected warmth or friendliness in the IPC. Similar descriptions were found using self-reports and spouse ratings of IPC dimensions, indicating that interpersonal styles associated with risk factors do not simply reflect common method variance. Findings identify interpersonal processes reflecting low affiliation or high hostility as a common component of risk and indicate distinctions among risk factors along the dominance dimension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy W Smith
- Department of Psychology, University of Utah, 380 South 1530 East (Room 502), Behavioral Sciences Building, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
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Smith TW, Uchino BN, Berg CA, Florsheim P, Pearce G, Hawkins M, Henry NJM, Beveridge RM, Skinner MA, Ko KJ, Olsen-Cerny C. Conflict and collaboration in middle-aged and older couples: II. Cardiovascular reactivity during marital interaction. Psychol Aging 2009; 24:274-286. [PMID: 19485647 PMCID: PMC4560486 DOI: 10.1037/a0016067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Marital strain confers risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), perhaps though cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) to stressful marital interactions. CVR to marital stressors may differ between middle-age and older adults, and types of marital interactions that evoke CVR may also differ across these age groups, as relationship contexts and stressors differ with age. The authors examined cardiovascular responses to a marital conflict discussion and collaborative problem solving in 300 middle-aged and older married couples. Marital conflict evoked greater increases in blood pressure, cardiac output, and cardiac sympathetic activation than did collaboration. Older couples displayed smaller heart rate responses to conflict than did middle-aged couples but larger blood pressure responses to collaboration-especially in older men. These effects were maintained during a posttask recovery period. Women did not display greater CVR than men on any measure or in either interaction context, though they did display greater parasympathetic withdrawal. CVR to marital conflict could contribute to the association of marital strain with CVD for middle-aged and older men and women, but other age-related marital contexts (e.g., collaboration among older couples) may also contribute to this mechanism.
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Gendolla GHE, Richter M, Silvia PJ. Self-focus and task difficulty effects on effort-related cardiovascular reactivity. Psychophysiology 2008; 45:653-62. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2008.00655.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Abstract
University students (N=43) watched film clips to manipulate negative, neutral, or positive mood states and then performed a mood regulation task with the goal of experiencing positive affect. Autonomic reactivity was assessed during habituation, mood inductions, and mood regulation. According to the mood-behavior model (G.H.E. Gendolla, 2000) and studies on self-regulation, we predicted stronger cardiovascular and electrodermal reactivity in a negative mood than in both positive and neutral moods in the context of mood regulation but not during the mood inductions. Results were as expected. Furthermore, the Zygomaticus Major muscle reacted more strongly in the positive than in the neutral and negative mood conditions during the mood inductions. The findings are interpreted as demonstrating mood effects on resource mobilization during an effortful mood regulation performance.
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Ewart CK, Jorgensen RS, Schroder KE, Suchday S, Sherwood A. Vigilance to a persisting personal threat: unmasking cardiovascular consequences in adolescents with the Social Competence Interview. Psychophysiology 2004; 41:799-804. [PMID: 15318886 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2004.00199.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
We report the first systematic study of hemodynamic responses to the Social Competence Interview, using the original Ewart protocol, which focuses attention on a persisting personal threat. Physiologic changes in 212 African American and Caucasian urban adolescents during the Social Competence Interview, mirror tracing, and reaction time tasks showed that the Social Competence Interview elicits a pronounced vasoconstrictive response pattern, with diminished cardiac activity, that is more typical of alert mental vigilance than of active coping. This pattern was observed in all race and gender subgroups. Results suggest that the Social Competence Interview may be a broadly useful procedure for investigating the role of threat-induced vigilance in cardiovascular and other diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Craig K Ewart
- Center for Health and Behavior, Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, NY 13244-2340, USA.
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