Abstract
Despite the high comorbidity of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), we know little about how persons with co-occurring SAD–MDD compare to their counterparts with pure disorders. In the present study we investigated attention to facial emotional stimuli in adult women with SAD only (n = 18), MDD only (n = 24), co-occurring SAD–MDD (n = 24), and healthy controls (CTL; n = 33). Participants were exposed to angry, sad, neutral, and happy faces for 200 and 1,000 ms as cues in a Posner attention task. We examined patterns of attentional engagement, disengagement, and vigilance-avoidance as a function of cue valence. Across the attentional indices, both the SAD and SAD–MDD groups differed most consistently from the MDD and CTL groups: they exhibited differential patterns of attention to angry, sad, and happy faces, including relatively greater vigilance-avoidance for angry faces. There was little evidence for any MDD-associated biases in attention. Findings suggest that the attentional processing of emotional information in SAD generally overrides the potential influence of co-occurring MDD. Implications for the understanding and treatment of co-occurring SAD–MDD are discussed.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 153-161 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Cognitive Therapy and Research |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2015 |
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Keywords
- Attention
- Comorbidity
- Depression
- Emotion
- Social anxiety disorder
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
Cite this
Attention to Emotional Information in Social Anxiety Disorder With and Without Co-Occurring Depression. / Kircanski, Katharina; Joormann, Jutta; Gotlib, Ian H.
In: Cognitive Therapy and Research, Vol. 39, No. 2, 2015, p. 153-161.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Attention to Emotional Information in Social Anxiety Disorder With and Without Co-Occurring Depression
AU - Kircanski, Katharina
AU - Joormann, Jutta
AU - Gotlib, Ian H.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Despite the high comorbidity of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), we know little about how persons with co-occurring SAD–MDD compare to their counterparts with pure disorders. In the present study we investigated attention to facial emotional stimuli in adult women with SAD only (n = 18), MDD only (n = 24), co-occurring SAD–MDD (n = 24), and healthy controls (CTL; n = 33). Participants were exposed to angry, sad, neutral, and happy faces for 200 and 1,000 ms as cues in a Posner attention task. We examined patterns of attentional engagement, disengagement, and vigilance-avoidance as a function of cue valence. Across the attentional indices, both the SAD and SAD–MDD groups differed most consistently from the MDD and CTL groups: they exhibited differential patterns of attention to angry, sad, and happy faces, including relatively greater vigilance-avoidance for angry faces. There was little evidence for any MDD-associated biases in attention. Findings suggest that the attentional processing of emotional information in SAD generally overrides the potential influence of co-occurring MDD. Implications for the understanding and treatment of co-occurring SAD–MDD are discussed.
AB - Despite the high comorbidity of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), we know little about how persons with co-occurring SAD–MDD compare to their counterparts with pure disorders. In the present study we investigated attention to facial emotional stimuli in adult women with SAD only (n = 18), MDD only (n = 24), co-occurring SAD–MDD (n = 24), and healthy controls (CTL; n = 33). Participants were exposed to angry, sad, neutral, and happy faces for 200 and 1,000 ms as cues in a Posner attention task. We examined patterns of attentional engagement, disengagement, and vigilance-avoidance as a function of cue valence. Across the attentional indices, both the SAD and SAD–MDD groups differed most consistently from the MDD and CTL groups: they exhibited differential patterns of attention to angry, sad, and happy faces, including relatively greater vigilance-avoidance for angry faces. There was little evidence for any MDD-associated biases in attention. Findings suggest that the attentional processing of emotional information in SAD generally overrides the potential influence of co-occurring MDD. Implications for the understanding and treatment of co-occurring SAD–MDD are discussed.
KW - Attention
KW - Comorbidity
KW - Depression
KW - Emotion
KW - Social anxiety disorder
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84925466931&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84925466931&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10608-014-9643-7
DO - 10.1007/s10608-014-9643-7
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84925466931
VL - 39
SP - 153
EP - 161
JO - Cognitive Therapy and Research
JF - Cognitive Therapy and Research
SN - 0147-5916
IS - 2
ER -