I the Role of Attention, Catastrophizing, And

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

I the Role of Attention, Catastrophizing, And The Role of Attention, Catastrophizing, and Anxiety in the Experience of Chronic Pain: Imaging Pain in Women With and Without Vestibulodynia By Katherine Stella Sutton A thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in conformity with the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada January, 2013 Copyright © Katherine Stella Sutton, 2013 i Abstract Provoked Vestibulodynia (PVD) is the most common form of chronic vulvar pain, affecting 12% of women in the general population. Research has demonstrated that women with PVD display both allodynia and hyperalgesia to pain at vulvar and non-vulvar sites, as well as reduced psychosocial functioning. The goal of this study was to use a multi-method approach (interview, questionnaires, sensory testing, and fMRI) to examine group differences between women with PVD (N=15) and healthy control women (N=15). Results will allow for improved understanding of the interaction between psychosocial and neurobiological underpinnings of this disorder, which can contribute to the creation of better treatment strategies. Variables included psychophysical and psychosocial measures, as well as neural activations associated with painful pressure, painful words, and psychosocial functioning. Differences between subgroups of PVD, based on temporal onset, were also examined. There were no robust group differences in neural activation during the application of pain or pain words. This finding is consistent with many studies that match groups on pain intensity ratings, as opposed to amount of pressure applied. Painful pressures and painful words resulted in greater neural activation than neutral words or touch; however, there were no group differences for the word conditions. Women with PVD reported increased psychosocial dysfunction, including higher levels of anxiety and catastrophizing. Significant correlations were found between these psychosocial variables and areas of the brain associated with pain modulation and attention (e.g., PFC). Examination of PVD subgroups revealed differences in neural correlates of anxiety and catastrophizing during painful stimulation. This finding adds to the literature suggesting that women with primary PVD experience greater dysfunction than women with secondary PVD. Overall, these studies support findings of pain processing in the general pain literature, as well as supporting PVD as a chronic pain condition. They also add to the development of a greater understanding of the interaction between psychophysical and psychosocial components of chronic pain by examining their relationship with neural activations. Future research should examine brain functioning in ii PVD women pre- and post-treatment as well as examining neural correlates of other psychosocial variables that contribute to the pain experience (e.g., somatization). iii Acknowledgements I would like to start by thanking my supervisor, Dr. Caroline Pukall, for all of her hard work and dedication to her students in Sexual Health Research Lab. She has provided me with many wonderful opportunities throughout my time at Queen’s, and her support and feedback have been invaluable. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Ingrid Johnsrude and Dr. Dean Tripp. Dr. Johnsrude has provided invaluable guidance for me as I broached a new methodological field of study for my dissertation. Dr. Tripp has been very generous with his time, and I am thankful to him for stepping in part way through this process. I would like acknowledge the financial support from SSHRC, OGS, and the Violet Head Scholarship. I am very grateful for the financial assistance provided during the course of my doctoral dissertation. A big thank you also to the members of the Sexual Health Research Lab: to my amazing lab- mates for their support and consultations, and to the wonderful volunteers and research assistants that have helped, both with this thesis and other projects throughout the years. A special thank you to the lab coordinator, Paulina Ezer, for her cheerful and very competent help. Thank you also to Conor Wild and Sophie Lafaille for their patience and assistance with the imaging portion of my thesis – I could not have done this without you both. A very special thank you to all of my amazing friends for holding me together during this long process. To those of you who have worked with me and beside me at my coffee shop office/lab, thank you for all of the memories – I will miss our work dates tremendously. Also, thank you to those who meet every Friday afternoon for all of your weekly support and supervision. Dr. Tony Eccles, thank you for introducing me to this ritual, and for bringing a piece of sanity to my week. Last, and most important, I would like to thank my family. First, thank you to my parents for their continued and unwavering support, and their pride and encouragement of my accomplishments, both big iv and small. Also, to my sister Sammy, who could not be any further from me geographically, but is always held close in my heart. Her sense of humor and updates are always a refreshing break from work. Thank you to Reza for his amazing support, encouragement, and never-ending patience with my work load. v Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................... ix List of Figures .............................................................................................................................................. xi List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................................................. xii Chapter 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2. Literature Review .................................................................................................................. 5 2.1. Vulvodynia .................................................................................................................................... 5 2.2. Provoked Vestibulodynia .............................................................................................................. 7 2.2.1. Diagnosis ............................................................................................................................... 7 2.2.2. Etiology ................................................................................................................................. 9 2.2.3. Psychosocial Functioning ................................................................................................... 11 2.2.4. Primary versus Secondary PVD ............................................................................................ 7 2.2.5. Treatment Approaches ........................................................................................................ 12 2.2.6. PVD: A Chronic Pain Condition ......................................................................................... 13 2.3. What is Pain? .............................................................................................................................. 13 2.4. Chronic Pain ................................................................................................................................ 19 2.5. Quantitative Sensory Testing ...................................................................................................... 22 2.6. Neuroimaging ............................................................................................................................. 24 2.6.1. Structural Neuroimaging ..................................................................................................... 25 2.6.2. Functional Neuroimaging ................................................................................................... 27 2.7. From Acute to Chronic Pain: The Role of Psychology .............................................................. 29 2.7.1. Chronification of Pain ......................................................................................................... 29 2.7.2. Affective Aspects of Pain ................................................................................................... 32 2.7.3. Cognitive Aspects of Pain ................................................................................................... 35 2.8. Current Study .............................................................................................................................. 41 Chapter 3. Research Questions and Hypotheses ................................................................................... 43 3.1. Study 1 ........................................................................................................................................ 43 3.2. Study 2 .......................................................................................................................................
Recommended publications
  • Does the Modified Stroop Effect Exist in PTSD?
    Journal of Anxiety Disorders 23 (2009) 650–655 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Anxiety Disorders Does the modified Stroop effect exist in PTSD? Evidence from dissertation abstracts and the peer reviewed literature Matthew O. Kimble a,*, B. Christopher Frueh b, Libby Marks a a Department of Psychology, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT 05753, United States b Department of Psychology, University of Hawai‘i at Hilo, Hilo, HI, United States ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: The modified Stroop effect (MSE), in which participants show delayed colour naming to trauma-specific Received 26 June 2008 words, is one of the most widely cited findings in the literature pertaining to cognitive bias in Received in revised form 28 January 2009 posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The current study used a novel approach (Dissertation Abstract Accepted 2 February 2009 Review; DAR) to review the presence of the MSE in dissertation abstracts. A review of dissertations that used the modified Stroop task in a PTSD sample revealed that only 8% of the studies found delayed Keywords: reaction times to trauma-specific words in participants with PTSD. The most common finding (75%) was Modified Stroop for no PTSD-specific effects in colour naming trauma-relevant words. This ratio is significantly lower Attentional bias than ratios found in the peer reviewed literature, but even in the peer reviewed literature only 44% of PTSD Trauma controlled studies found the modified Stroop effect. These data suggest that a reevaluation of the MSE in Dissertation Abstract Review PTSD is warranted. ß 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Modified versions of the original Stroop (1935) task have been depressive, anxiety, and eating disorders (Dagleish & Power, widely used to demonstrate biases in the processing of information 2004; MacLeod, 2005).
    [Show full text]
  • Clinical Applications 1 Handbook of Implicit Social
    Clinical Applications 1 Handbook of Implicit Social Cognition Chapter: Clinical applications of implicit social cognition theories and methods Bethany A. Teachman, Meghan W. Cody, and Elise M. Clerkin University of Virginia Clinical Applications 2 It is exciting to see the implicit social cognition and psychopathology research traditions come together, because the two fields have often operated independently. The historic neglect of one another’s findings has been unfortunate, because in many ways the two fields are vitally linked. To understand abnormal, maladaptive ways of processing information about the self and others, it is critical to understand how this occurs in healthy populations and is influenced by situational factors. Analogously, to understand the influence of the social environment on cognitive processing, it is essential to recognize the full range of individual differences and how this intra- and interpersonal variability and the environment interact. Moreover, the influences of emotions, attitudes, and beliefs on behavior are at the core of both fields, so integrating their findings holds promise to move each field forward. We are increasingly able to ask important questions that would not be possible without the influence of one another’s methods and perspectives about how human beings make sense of their social world. In this chapter, we focus primarily on indirect measures of disorder-relevant attitudes and beliefs1 that capture some aspect of implicit social cognitive processing (i.e., reflecting one of the features of automaticity outlined by Bargh, 1994: uncontrollable, unintentional, efficient, or unconscious). Clinical applications of implicit association and priming measures are emphasized given the central role of these paradigms in current social cognition research.
    [Show full text]
  • Perceptual Processing Advantages for Trauma-Related Visual Cues in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
    Psychological Medicine (2012), 42, 173–181. f Cambridge University Press 2011 ORIGINAL ARTICLE doi:10.1017/S0033291711001048 Perceptual processing advantages for trauma-related visual cues in post-traumatic stress disorder B. Kleim, T. Ehring and A. Ehlers* Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, UK Background. Intrusive re-experiencing in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) comprises distressing sensory impressions from the trauma that seem to occur ‘out of the blue’. A key question is how intrusions are triggered. One possibility is that PTSD is characterized by a processing advantage for stimuli that resemble those that accompanied the trauma, which would lead to increased detection of such cues in the environment. Method. We used a blurred picture identification task in a cross-sectional (n=99) and a prospective study (n=221) of trauma survivors. Results. Participants with acute stress disorder (ASD) or PTSD, but not trauma survivors without these disorders, identified trauma-related pictures, but not general threat pictures, better than neutral pictures. There were no group differences in the rate of trauma-related answers to other picture categories. The relative processing advantage for trauma-related pictures correlated with re-experiencing and dissociation, and predicted PTSD at follow-up. Conclusions. A perceptual processing bias for trauma-related stimuli may contribute to the involuntary triggering of intrusive trauma memories in PTSD. Received 26 November 2010; Revised 17 May 2011; Accepted 20 May 2011; First published online 21 June 2011 Key words: Acute stress disorder, dissociation, intrusive memories, perception, post-traumatic stress disorder, priming. Introduction triggered in PTSD. Interview and questionnaire studies have suggested that triggers are often percep- Some trauma survivors are haunted by unwanted tually similar to the intrusive content or to stimuli that distressing memories for years.
    [Show full text]
  • Cognitive Assessment of Deviant Sexual Interest Using the Emotional Stroop and Fmri
    COGNITIVE ASSESSMENT OF DEVIANT SEXUAL INTEREST USING THE EMOTIONAL STROOP AND FMRI By SHELLEY PRICE A thesis submitted to the College of Life and Environmental Sciences of the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Psychology College of Life and Environmental Sciences The University of Birmingham December 2010 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract This thesis examines differences in information-processing of sexual material using the emotional Stroop task to determine whether it is a reliable tool to be used in the assessment of deviant sexual interest for sexual abusers. Data was collected from several samples: adolescent sexual abusers receiving treatment from g-map services (Sale, Cheshire); adolescent offenders involved with a Youth Offending Team organisation in the West Midlands; adolescent non-offenders recruited from the community; adult sexual abusers and violent offenders who attend treatment with West Midlands Probation or who are detained at HMP Grendon (Oxfordshire, UK); and adult non-offenders in the West Midlands. Chapter one reviews the Stroop task and provides guidance to researchers for developing Stroop studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Neurocognitive Function in Individuals With
    NEUROCOGNITIVE FUNCTION IN INDIVIDUALS WITH SUB-CLINICAL BODY DYSMORPHIC DISORDER by Niki Hayatbini, M.S. A thesis submitted to the Graduate Council of Texas State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts with a Major in Psychological Research August 2019 Committee Members: Amitai Abramovitch, Chair Joseph Etherton Yueqin Jean Hu COPYRIGHT by Niki Hayatbini 2019 FAIR USE AND AUTHOR’S PERMISSION STATEMENT Fair Use This work is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, section 107). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgment. Use of this material for financial gain without the author’s express written permission is not allowed. Duplication Permission As the copyright holder of this work I, Niki Hayatbini, authorize duplication of this work, in whole or in part, for educational or scholarly purposes only. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee, especially Dr. Abramovitch, for their support, patience, and insight throughout the entire process of obtaining my Masters. I would also like to thank Matt and Nathan for assisting to make this research possible. I would also like to thank the Texas State University Graduate College and Department of Psychology for awarding me the Thesis Research Support Fellowship grants, which allowed me to pursue this project without fear of financial restraint. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..............................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Attentional Avoidance in Peer Victimized Individuals with and Without Psychiatric Disorders Benjamin Iffland* , Angelina Weitkämper, Nicolai J
    Iffland et al. BMC Psychology (2019) 7:12 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-019-0284-1 RESEARCHARTICLE Open Access Attentional avoidance in peer victimized individuals with and without psychiatric disorders Benjamin Iffland* , Angelina Weitkämper, Nicolai J. Weitkämper and Frank Neuner Abstract Background: Attentional biases are a relatively robust phenomenon among clinical populations but less pronounced in healthy participants. However, regarding the components of attentional biases and the directions of attention allocation, there are several inconsistencies in the literature. The present study examined whether these inconsistencies can be traced back to previous experiences of relational peer victimization in clinical populations. Methods: Participants were subjects with a diagnosed psychiatric disorder (n = 30) and healthy controls (n = 31). Additionally, the sample was divided into two subgroups according to the participants’ reports of previous relational peer victimization (high peer victimization: n = 28; low peer victimization: n = 33). Attentional biases were measured by the Emotional Stroop task and a dot-probe task. Results: In both samples, peer victimized participants showed delayed response times when color-naming negative and positive compared to neutral adjectives in the Emotional Stroop task. Likewise, the dot-probe task indicated attentional avoidance of both negative and positive words in peer victimized participants with and without a psychiatric disorder. Interestingly, presence of a psychiatric disorder did not have a significant effect on attentional biases. Conclusion: Both tasks could detect that attentional processes were linked to the experience of peer victimization rather than to the current diagnostic status of the participants. Attentional avoidance of emotional stimuli may prevent victimized individuals from responding adequately to environmental stimuli, which may increase the risk for the development of psychopathology.
    [Show full text]
  • AN EXAMINATION of MINDFULNESS and COGNITIVE INTERFERENCE in AMERICAN VETERANS of the GLOBAL WAR on TERRORISM Andrew C
    Eastern Washington University EWU Digital Commons EWU Masters Thesis Collection Student Research and Creative Works Spring 2017 AN EXAMINATION OF MINDFULNESS AND COGNITIVE INTERFERENCE IN AMERICAN VETERANS OF THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM Andrew C. Rowley Eastern Washington University Follow this and additional works at: http://dc.ewu.edu/theses Part of the Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Rowley, Andrew C., "AN EXAMINATION OF MINDFULNESS AND COGNITIVE INTERFERENCE IN AMERICAN VETERANS OF THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM" (2017). EWU Masters Thesis Collection. 424. http://dc.ewu.edu/theses/424 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research and Creative Works at EWU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in EWU Masters Thesis Collection by an authorized administrator of EWU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AN EXAMINATION OF MINDFULNESS AND COGNITIVE INTERFERENCE IN AMERICAN VETERANS OF THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM A Thesis Presented To Eastern Washington University Cheney, Washington In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in Psychology By Andrew C. Rowley Spring 2017 ii THESIS OF ANDREW C. ROWLEY APPROVED BY JONATHAN ANDERSON, PH.D., GRADUATE STUDY COMMITTEE DATE THERESA MARTIN, PH.D., GRADUATE STUDY COMMITTEE DATE BETH TORGERSON, PH.D., GRADUATE STUDY COMMITTEE DATE iii Abstract AN EXAMINATION OF MINDFULNESS AND COGNITIVE INTERFERENCE IN AMERICAN VETERANS OF THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM by Andrew C. Rowley Spring 2017 Utilizing an internet-based research protocol, PTSD symptoms, mindfulness skills, and cognitive interference were assessed. Participants completed self-report measures of PTSD symptoms and mindfulness skills, and then completed an emotional Stroop task that contained words selected to induce cognitive interference based on their combat-related nature.
    [Show full text]
  • Adolescent Risk-Taking Is Predicted by Individual Differences in Cognitive Control Over Emotional, but Not Non-Emotional, Response Conflict
    Cognition and Emotion ISSN: 0269-9931 (Print) 1464-0600 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/pcem20 Adolescent risk-taking is predicted by individual differences in cognitive control over emotional, but not non-emotional, response conflict Morgan Botdorf, Gail M. Rosenbaum, Jamie Patrianakos, Laurence Steinberg & Jason M. Chein To cite this article: Morgan Botdorf, Gail M. Rosenbaum, Jamie Patrianakos, Laurence Steinberg & Jason M. Chein (2016): Adolescent risk-taking is predicted by individual differences in cognitive control over emotional, but not non-emotional, response conflict, Cognition and Emotion To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2016.1168285 Published online: 06 Apr 2016. Submit your article to this journal View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=pcem20 Download by: [Temple University Libraries], [Jamie Patrianakos] Date: 07 April 2016, At: 11:23 COGNITION AND EMOTION, 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2016.1168285 BRIEF ARTICLE Adolescent risk-taking is predicted by individual differences in cognitive control over emotional, but not non-emotional, response conflict Morgan Botdorfa, Gail M. Rosenbauma, Jamie Patrianakosa, Laurence Steinberga,b and Jason M. Cheina aDepartment of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA; bKing Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY While much research on adolescent risk behaviour has focused on the development of Received 30 November 2015 prefrontal self-regulatory mechanisms, prior studies have elicited mixed evidence of a Revised 17 February 2016 relationship between individual differences in the capacity for self-regulation and Accepted 14 March 2016 fi individual differences in risk taking.
    [Show full text]