Positive affect regulation in anxiety disorders

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Affect Regulation

Background:

• Individual differences in positive affect (PA) responses are known, but PA regulation in anxiety disorders is understudied.
• Anxiety disorders, including social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, may involve distinct patterns of PA regulation.
• Comorbidity with depression is high, necessitating control for depressive symptoms in anxiety research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate positive affect (PA) regulation strategies in individuals with symptoms of various anxiety disorders.
• To examine the relationship between dampening PA and savoring PA with specific anxiety disorder symptoms.
• To determine if PA regulation uniquely predicts anxiety disorder symptoms, controlling for depression and generalized anxiety disorder.

Main Methods:

• An undergraduate sample completed measures assessing the tendency to dampen positive affect (PA) and the ability to savor PA.
• Statistical analyses examined the unique contribution of PA regulation measures to predicting symptoms of social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
• Analyses controlled for a history of depression and, in exploratory analyses, for generalized anxiety disorder symptoms.

Main Results:

• Both dampening PA and savoring PA uniquely predicted symptoms across most anxiety disorders studied.
• Affect regulation measures significantly contributed to predicting social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
• These predictions remained substantial even after controlling for symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety disorder, with the exception of agoraphobia.

Conclusions:

• Affect regulation, specifically dampening and savoring positive affect (PA), plays a significant role in the symptomatology of several anxiety disorders.
• Understanding PA regulation deficits may offer novel targets for therapeutic interventions in anxiety disorders.
• Future research should explore these findings in clinical populations and investigate the mechanisms underlying affect regulation in anxiety.