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Anxiety, attributional thinking,and the primary process.

Linda A W Brakel1, Howard Shevrin

  • 1brakel@umich.edu

The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis
|December 2, 2005
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Anxiety shifts mental organization toward primary process thinking, supporting psychoanalytic theory. This study links conscious anxiety to Freud

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Psychoanalytic Theory
  • Psychological Science

Background:

  • Psychoanalytic theory posits primary and secondary process mental organization.
  • Prior research validated a cognitive categorization test mapping to these processes.
  • Previous studies confirmed primary process shifts under unconscious stimuli, in young children, and during implicit tasks.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between conscious anxiety and primary vs. secondary mental processes.
  • To test a fourth condition predicted by psychoanalytic theory regarding anxiety and mental organization.

Main Methods:

  • A naturalistic study was conducted with 120 patients in medical waiting rooms.
  • Participants rated their anxiety on a 10-point scale.

Related Experiment Videos

  • A cognitive categorization test was administered to assess mental organization.

    • Main Results:

    • Individuals reporting any anxiety exhibited a significant shift toward primary process categorization.
    • This contrasts with participants who reported feeling calm.

    Conclusions:

    • Conscious anxiety is associated with a shift towards primary process thinking.
    • Findings support psychoanalytic theory regarding anxiety's role in mental organization and symptom formation.