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Executive Functioning Constructs in Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive, Post-Traumatic Stress, and Related Disorders
Nur Hani Zainal1, Michelle G Newman2
1Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
Current Psychiatry Reports
|November 19, 2022
Summary
Anxiety and cognitive dysfunction have a complex, bidirectional relationship. Evidence supports both anxiety causing cognitive deficits and cognitive deficits increasing anxiety risk.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
Background:
- The relationship between cognitive functioning and anxiety is complex.
- Existing theories include vulnerability theories (cognitive deficits predict anxiety) and scar theories (anxiety predicts cognitive dysfunction).
Purpose of the Study:
- To synthesize theories on the complex relationship between cognitive functioning and anxiety.
- To evaluate vulnerability and scar theories, as well as novel frameworks.
Main Methods:
- Literature synthesis of existing theories and empirical evidence.
- Evaluation of evidence for bidirectional effects between anxiety and cognitive function.
Main Results:
- Reliable evidence supports both vulnerability and scar theories, indicating a dynamic mutualism.
- Anxiety symptoms have a stronger impact on executive functioning (EF) than non-EF domains, and vice versa.
- Emerging evidence suggests enhanced cognitive control may correlate with higher anxiety in children.
Conclusions:
- The relationship between anxiety and cognitive dysfunction is bidirectional and complex.
- Future research should explore mediators and moderators like immune, metabolic, and neural markers, and social determinants of health.
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