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• Scalable prevention and treatment approaches for anxiety disorders are needed. • Anxiety sensitivity, or fear of anxiety, is a key transdiagnostic target. • We tested a standalone brief digital psychoeducation intervention vs. waitlist. • There were medium-to-large reductions in anxiety sensitivity at two-week follow-up. Anxiety sensitivity, or the fear of anxiety, represents an important transdiagnostic target in the prevention and treatment of anxiety disorders, which typically emerge between childhood and early adulthood. Recent work demonstrated that single-session digital psychoeducation interventions delivered on computers in a lab setting can effectively reduce anxiety sensitivity. This evidence suggests that digital psychoeducation interventions have potential as a scalable and cost-effective approach to targeting anxiety sensitivity in emerging adults. Toward this aim, we developed the Anxiety Insight Modules (AIM), which promote insights about the function of anxiety, the activating role of thoughts, the harmless nature of sensations that often co-occur with anxiety, and the negative impact of trying to avoid anxiety. To facilitate a more accurate estimate of the potential for scalability, participants tested AIM on their personal devices at their preferred schedule and pace without the involvement of clinicians or staff. Undergraduate students with high levels of anxiety sensitivity (N = 159) were randomized to gain immediate access to AIM (n = 77) or to a waitlist control that gained access to AIM after the 2-week follow-up assessment (n = 82). All of the participants who gained immediate access to AIM, as well as 91.67% of participants in the waitlist who participated in the follow-up, completed the full set of modules, suggesting high levels of engagement. Immediate access to AIM had a medium-to-large effect on anxiety sensitivity in a 2-week follow-up comparison with waitlist control (d = 0.57–0.76). Participants that completed AIM showed acute reductions in anxiety sensitivity. Given this preliminary evidence of its effectiveness, further research is warranted to determine the factors that moderate and mediate AIM's impact on anxiety sensitivity in order to optimize its delivery and facilitate scalability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Exercise interventions facilitate the odds of quit success among high-anxiety sensitive adults smokers. We examined the dependency of these benefits on the genetic BDNF Val66Met (rs6265) polymorphism; individuals who are Met carriers have lower BDNF responses and reduced associated benefits from exercise. Accordingly, we hypothesized that the efficacy of vigorous-intensity exercise for smoking cessation would be specific to high-anxiety sensitive Val/Val carriers. Methods Participants were adults ( N = 55) of European ancestry who had participated in a randomized controlled trial comparing a smoking cessation program augmented with exercise vs. augmented with a wellness control treatment. In this secondary analysis, growth curve models for point-prevalence abstinence (PPA) and prolonged abstinence (PA) employed for the main outcome analyses were amended to test the moderator effects of the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism. Results Consistent with prediction, the advantage of exercise over control for PPA was significantly greater among high-anxiety sensitive persons with the Val/Val genotype than for those with the Val/Met genotype. This advantage did not reach statistical significance for PA. Differences in abstinence between the exercise and control interventions among low-anxiety sensitive smokers were not dependent on the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism. Conclusions We found that the efficacy of exercise for augmenting smoking cessation treatment is intensified among high-anxiety sensitive smokers who are Val/Val carriers. This observation is consistent with findings documenting BDNF mediation of exercise benefits and greater negative affect among smokers who are Val/Val carriers. These data encourage further evaluation of the association between the BDNF polymorphism, exercise, anxiety sensitivity, and smoking cessation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]