Priming associations between bodily sensations and catastrophic misinterpretations: Specific for panic disorder?

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Psychopathology

Background:

• Cognitive models posit that panic disorder stems from catastrophic misinterpretation of benign bodily sensations.
• Previous research primarily relied on self-report, limiting the assessment of spontaneous interpretations.
• The automatic nature of these interpretations is a key aspect of cognitive models for panic disorder.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate spontaneous catastrophic interpretations in panic disorder using a priming procedure.
• To determine if this effect is specific to panic disorder compared to other groups.
• To explore unexpected findings related to mental health professionals.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments employed a priming procedure to assess associations between bodily symptom primes and catastrophic outcome targets.
• Participants included individuals with panic disorder, anxious controls, nonclinical controls, and mental health professionals.
• Response times to target words were measured to infer the automaticity of interpretations.

Main Results:

• Individuals with panic disorder showed facilitated responses to symptom-catastrophe associations, supporting the cognitive model.
• This priming effect was specific to the panic disorder group, not observed in anxious or nonclinical controls.
• Unexpectedly, mental health professionals also exhibited significant priming effects, irrespective of panic disorder history.

Conclusions:

• Spontaneous catastrophic interpretations are characteristic of panic disorder.
• The findings in mental health professionals suggest that such associations can develop through professional experience, not solely as a psychopathological trait.
• Results have implications for understanding the development and maintenance of panic disorder and for clinical interventions.