ABSTRACT

Although stressful life events increase risk for symptoms of Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD), we know little about mechanisms that increase GAD symptoms during times of stress. Despite evidence that self-referential processing contributes to other forms of psychopathology, namely depression, it is unknown whether self-referential processing also contributes to symptoms of GAD. Thus, we examined the association of self-referential processing with GAD symptoms in response to a naturalistic stressor (Study 1; n=135) and with anxiety-tension in response to a laboratory stressor (Study 2; n=56). In Study 1, participants completed the self-referential encoding task (SRET) in their initial weeks of university, and we assessed GAD symptoms four times across the semester. In Study 2, participants completed the SRET immediately before a laboratory stressor, and we assessed moment-to-moment changes in anxiety-tension. Greater negatively biased self-referential processing was associated with higher GAD symptoms at the start of university and greater reactivity to the laboratory stressor. In contrast, greater positively biased self-referential processing served as a protective factor associated with greater decline in symptoms over time. This study is the first to demonstrate that there are valence-specific effects of self-referential processing on anxiety, suggesting that self-referential processing may be relevant to GAD.

摘要

尽管有压力的生活事件会增加出现广泛性焦虑症 (GAD) 症状的风险，但我们对在压力期间增加 GAD 症状的机制知之甚少。尽管有证据表明自我参照加工会导致其他形式的精神病理学，即抑郁症，但尚不清楚自我参照加工是否也会导致 GAD 的症状。因此，我们研究了自我参照处理与响应自然压力源的 GAD 症状（研究 1；n = 135）和响应实验室压力源的焦虑紧张（研究 2；n=56）。在研究 1 中，参与者在大学的最初几周完成了自我参照编码任务 (SRET)，我们在整个学期中对 GAD 症状进行了四次评估。在研究 2 中，参与者在实验室压力源之前立即完成了 SRET，我们评估了焦虑紧张的瞬间变化。在大学开始时，更大的负面偏见自我参照处理与更高的 GAD 症状和对实验室压力源的更大反应有关。相比之下，随着时间的推移，更大的积极偏见的自我参照处理是与症状更大幅度下降相关的保护因素。本研究首次证明自我参照加工对焦虑具有效价特异性影响，表明自我参照加工可能与 GAD 相关。