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Attention and attention control are central to definitions of mindfulness and are implicated in the etiology and maintenance of social anxiety disorder, yet no study has examined the relationship among them within a clinical sample, the purpose of the current research. This study tested the hypothesis that self-reported trait mindfulness would be negatively correlated with overall attention bias towards threat and attention bias variability using a facial dot probe task. Forty-one adults diagnosed with social anxiety disorder completed the Mindfulness Attentional Awareness Scale and a facial dot probe task at two sessions one week apart. Average attention bias towards threat was measured using a traditional aggregate mean index (MacLeod et al., Journal of Abnormal Psychology 95:15-20, 1986) and using a newly developed index calculated with trial level bias scores (Zvielli et al., Clinical Psychological Science 3:772-788, 2015). Trial level bias scores were also used to measure attention bias variability. There were no significant correlations between mindfulness and the traditional index of attention bias (p's > .05). There were significant negative correlations between trait mindfulness and attention bias towards threat, r = -.367, p = .018, as well as attention bias variability, r = -.430, p = .005, when calculated with trial level bias scores, but only at the second assessment. This study provides the first evidence of a link between trait mindfulness and mean attention bias towards threat and attention bias variability in adults with social anxiety disorder., Author(s): Grace Packard [sup.1] , Anthony Molloy [sup.1] , Page L. Anderson [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.256304.6, 0000 0004 1936 7400, Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, , Page Anderson, [...]

The present cross-sectional study investigated the relation among disordered eating-related cognition, psychological flexibility, and poor psychological outcomes among a nonclinical college sample. As predicted, conviction of disordered eating-related cognitions was positively associated with general psychological ill-health and emotional distress in interpersonal contexts. Disordered eating-related cognition was also inversely related to psychological flexibility, which was inversely related to poor psychological health and emotional distress in interpersonal contexts. The combination of disordered eating-related cognition and psychological flexibility accounted for the proportion of variance of these poor psychological outcomes greater than disordered eating-related cognition alone. Finally, psychological flexibility accounted for the proportion of variance of these negative psychological variables greater than did disordered eating-related cognition. (Contains 2 tables.)

The study examined African American, Asian American, and European American college students' previous direct and indirect experiences of seeking professional psychological services and related attitudes. Survey data were collected from 254 European American, 182 African American and 82 Asian American college students. Results revealed that fewer African American and Asian American college students had sought professional psychological services, knew someone who had sought psychological services, and knew a close person who was diagnosed with a psychological disorder, relative to European American students. Furthermore, African American and Asian American participants showed less favorable attitudes on a variety of help-seeking attitudes, compared to the European American group.

Examines the association between the experience of multiple forms of childhood abuse and suicidal behavior among low-income, African American women. Women who reported abuse did not complete high school, or who were unemployed were more likely to attempt suicide. Suggests clinicians working with African American women who are victims of abuse need to assess suicidal ideation and behavior. (JDM)

Background:e-Health interventions for mental health have the potential to reduce burdens on health care systems, but large survey studies find low acceptability for these interventions. The COVID-19 pandemic may make attitudes toward e-health more malleable. The current study examined whether an intervention to improve attitudes toward Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) has a greater impact during the COVID-19 pandemic than before the pandemic. Materials and Methods:Individuals (N = 662) recruited from a large university and surrounding community who participated in a study about the acceptability of iCBT in 2018 and 2019 were asked to participate in a follow-up survey. In the original study, participants were randomized to receive or not receive a rationale designed to increase acceptability of iCBT, and then they completed measures of acceptability and outcome expectancy for iCBT. Fifty-one participants enrolled in the follow-up study from May to July 2020. They received a treatment rationale for iCBT (or not) in keeping with randomization from the parent study and re-completed measures assessing the acceptability and outcome expectancy for iCBT. Results:Contrary to hypotheses, two-way analyses of covariance (ANCOVA's) demonstrated that there was no significant interaction between time point and rationale condition on acceptability or outcome expectancy for iCBT. There was a significant main effect of rationale condition on acceptability, such that participants who received a treatment rationale reported greater acceptability for iCBT. There were no significant main effects of time. Conclusions:A treatment rationale was effective in improving acceptability for iCBT in a general population sample, but not more so during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cognitive models of anxiety propose that people with anxiety disorders show elevated levels of attention bias toward threat, but the most commonly used index of attention bias, which measures the construct with an aggregate score of multiple trials across an experimental session, shows poor test‐retest reliability. Newer indices that measure attention bias dynamically on a trial‐to‐trial basis show good reliability and enable researchers to measure not only overall attention bias toward threat, but also attention bias variability. Methods: The current study tested the hypothesis that people diagnosed with social anxiety disorder would show higher attention bias variability and higher attention bias toward threat when calculated dynamically and when calculated using the traditional aggregate index. Participants diagnosed with social anxiety disorder (n = 47) and controls (n = 57) completed a 160‐trial version of the dot‐probe task using emotional and neutral images of faces as stimuli. Results: Relative to controls, participants diagnosed with social anxiety disorder showed higher mean bias toward threat, but only when calculated using trial‐level bias scores. There were no differences between groups on attention bias variability. Discussion: This is the first study to examine differences in attention bias and attention bias variability between people with and without social anxiety disorder using trial‐level bias scores. Results suggest that attention bias, but not attention bias variability, is a feature of social anxiety psychopathology and that trial‐level bias scores may be more sensitive than aggregated mean scores to detect it. These findings have implications for clinical interventions such as attention bias modification programs, which require precise measures of attention bias to accurately assess treatment outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports the 12-month follow-up from patients with the fear of flying who were treated in a controlled study and randomly assigned (n = 49) to virtual reality exposure (VRE) therapy, standard exposure (SE) therapy, or to a wait-list control (WL). VRE and SE were equally superior to WL. At 12 months posttreatment, data were gathered on 24 of the 30 (80%) patients who were assigned to VRE or SE. Patients maintained their treatment gains, and 92% of VRE participants and 91% of SE participants had flown on a real airplane since the graduation flight. This is the 1st year-long follow-up of patients having been treated with VRE and indicates that short-term treatment can have lasting effects.