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Coping With Anxiety: Brain Structural Correlates of Vigilance and Cognitive Avoidance
Vivien Günther1, Salome Jahn1, Carolin Webelhorst1
1Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig Medical Center, Leipzig, Germany.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
|April 25, 2022
Summary
Dispositional coping strategies like vigilance and cognitive avoidance are linked to structural brain changes in the thalamus. Vigilance correlates with increased gray matter volume, while cognitive avoidance is associated with decreased volume in this brain region.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
Background:
- Individual differences in coping strategies exist for anxiety-provoking situations.
- Cognitive avoidance involves withdrawing from threatening information, while vigilance involves seeking it.
- Previous neuroimaging studies show mixed results on brain responsivity related to coping styles.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between brain gray matter volume and coping strategies.
- To examine structural correlates of vigilance and cognitive avoidance.
Main Methods:
- Structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) was used.
- 114 healthy individuals participated in the study.
- Coping strategies were assessed using the Mainz Coping Inventory.
Main Results:
- Cognitive avoidance was associated with reduced gray matter volume in the bilateral thalamus.
- Vigilance was associated with increased gray matter volume in the bilateral thalamus.
- These findings remained significant after controlling for age, sex, depressive symptoms, and trait anxiety.
Conclusions:
- Dispositional coping strategies are linked to volumetric alterations in the thalamus.
- The thalamus plays a role in attention, alertness, and harm anticipation.
- Vigilance is associated with thalamic gray matter increases, and cognitive avoidance with decreases.
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