Does symptom perception after negative affect induction differ between physically ill and healthy individuals? An...

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Nephrology
• Psychosomatic Medicine

Background:

• Symptom perception is subjective, influenced by biopsychosocial factors.
• The Affect and Symptoms Paradigm (ASP) is used to study emotional influences on symptom perception.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if negative affect induction influences symptom perception in non-dialysis chronic kidney disease (ND-CKD) patients and healthy controls.
• To examine the association between the ASP effect and symptom burden in ND-CKD patients.

Main Methods:

• Participants viewed positive, negative, and neutral picture series.
• Symptom levels, affect, and arousal were rated after each series.
• The ASP effect's association with 6- and 12-month symptom burden was analyzed in the ND-CKD group.

Main Results:

• Negative pictures increased negative affect and arousal in both groups.
• Symptom levels were higher after negative versus positive/neutral pictures, with comparable responses.
• The ASP effect predicted 6-month symptom burden in ND-CKD patients.

Conclusions:

• Negative affect induction demonstrably increases symptom levels in chronic illnesses like CKD.
• Findings support the predictive processing model of symptom perception.
• Difficulties in identifying feelings moderated symptom levels in the CKD group.