scholarly journals The role of intolerance of uncertainty in classical threat conditioning: Recent developments and directions for future research

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayne Morriss ◽  
Daniel Zuj ◽  
Gaëtan Mertens
Keyword(s):  
Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽  
Acquisition Training ◽  
Mental Health Disorders ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Health Disorders ◽  
Learned Fear ◽  
Fear And Anxiety

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU), the tendency to find uncertainty aversive, is an important transdiagnostic dimension in mental health disorders. Over the last decade, there has been a surge of research on the role of IU in classical threat conditioning procedures, which serve as analogues to the development, treatment, and relapse of anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, and trauma- and stressor-related disorders. This review provides an overview of the existing literature on IU in classical threat conditioning procedures. The review integrates findings based on the shared or discrete parameters of uncertainty embedded within classical threat conditioning procedures. Under periods of unexpected uncertainty, where threat and safety contingencies change, high IU, over other self-reported measures of anxiety, is specifically associated with poorer threat extinction learning and retention, as well as overgeneralisation. Under periods of estimation and expected uncertainty, where the parameters of uncertainty are being learned or have been learned, such as threat acquisition training and avoidance learning, the findings are mixed for IU. These findings provide evidence that individual differences in IU play a significant role in maintaining learned fear and anxiety, particularly under volatile environments. Recommendations for future research are outlined, with discussion focusing on how parameters of uncertainty can be better defined to capture how IU is involved in the maintenance of learned fear and anxiety. Such work will be crucial for understanding the role of IU in neurobiological models of uncertainty-based maintenance of fear and anxiety and inform translational work aiming to improve the diagnosis and treatment of relevant psychopathology.

scholarly journals Effects of intolerance of uncertainty on subjective and psychophysiological measures during fear acquisition and delayed extinction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maren Klingelhöfer-Jens ◽  
Jayne Morriss ◽  
Tina B Lonsdorf
Keyword(s):  
Fear Conditioning ◽  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽  
Acquisition Training ◽  
Extinction Training ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Psychophysiological Measures ◽  
Learned Fear ◽  
Startle Blink

Individuals who score high in self-reported Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) tend to find uncertainty unacceptable and aversive. In recent years, research has shed light on the role of IU in modulating subjective (i.e. expectancy ratings) and psychophysiological responses (i.e. skin conductance) across different classical fear conditioning procedures, particularly that of immediate extinction. However, there remain gaps in understanding how IU, in comparison to other negative emotionality traits (STAI-T), impact different types of subjective and psychophysiological measures during different classical fear conditioning procedures. Here, we analyzed IU, STAI-T, subjective (i.e. fear ratings) and psychophysiological (i.e. skin conductance, auditory startle blink) data recorded during fear acquisition training and 24h-delayed extinction training (n = 66). Higher IU, over STAI-T, was: (1) significantly associated with greater fear ratings to the learned fear cue during fear acquisition training, and (2) at trend associated with greater fear ratings to the learned fear versus safe cue during delayed extinction training. Both IU and STAI-T were not related to skin conductance or auditory startle blink during fear acquisition training and delayed extinction training. These results add to and extend our current understanding of the role of IU on subjective and physiological measures during different fear conditioning procedures, particularly that of delayed extinction training. Implications of these findings and future directions are discussed.

scholarly journals The aetiology of social deficits within mental health disorders: The role of the immune system and endogenous opioids

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Jane Charles ◽  
Miguel Farias ◽  
R. I. M. Dunbar
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Immune System ◽  
Mental Health Disorders ◽  
Social Bonding ◽  
Endogenous Opioids ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Endogenous Opioid System ◽  
Endogenous Opioid ◽  
Health Disorders

The American National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) has put out a set of research goals that include a long-term plan to identify more reliable endogenous explanations for a wide variety of mental health disorders (Insel, 2013). In response to this, we have identified a major symptom that underlies multiple mental health disorders – social bonding dysfunction. We suggest that endogenous opioid abnormalities can lead to altered social bonding, which is a symptom of various mental health disorders, including depression, schizophrenia and ASD. This article first outlines how endogenous opioids play a role in social bonding. Then we show their association with the body’s inflammation immune function, and review recent literature linking inflammation to mental health ‘immunophenotypes’. We finish by explaining how these immunophenotypes may be caused by alterations in the endogenous opioid system. This is the first overview of the role of inflammation across multiple disorders where we provide a biochemical explanation for why immunophenotypes might exist across diagnoses. We propose a novel mechanism of how the immune system may be causing ‘sickness-type’ behaviours (fatigue, appetite change, social withdrawal and inhibited motivation) in those who have these immunophenotypes. We hope that this novel aetiology can be used as a basis for future research in mental health.

Addressing Pediatric Developmental and Mental Health in Primary Care Using Tele-Education

2021 ◽  
pp. 000992282110596
Author(s):  
Joyce N. Harrison ◽  
Janna Steinberg ◽  
Anna Maria Louise Wilms Floet ◽  
Nancy Grace ◽  
Deepa Menon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Mental Health Disorders ◽  
Knowledge Gain ◽  
Atlantic Region ◽  
School Based ◽  
Health Disorders ◽  
Management Changes ◽  
Provision Of Care

This study evaluates the effectiveness of an early childhood tele-education program in preparing community pediatric clinicians to manage developmental and mental health disorders in young children. Community pediatric clinicians from rural, underserved, or school-based health center practices in the mid-Atlantic region participated in a weekly tele-education videoconference. There was a significant knowledge gain evidenced by the percentage of questions answered correctly from pre- to post- didactic exposure ( P < .001). Participants reported an increase in knowledge from pre- ( P < .001) and in confidence from pre- to post- participation ( P < .001). Practice management changes demonstrated an encouraging trend toward managing patients in the Medical Home, as compared with immediately deferring to specialists following participation. This early childhood tele-education videoconferencing program is a promising response to the urgent need to confidently increase the role of pediatricians in the provision of care for childhood developmental and mental health disorders.

The Role of Symptoms in the Recognition of Mental Health Disorders in Primary Care

2003 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 402-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
János Füredi ◽  
Sándor Rózsa ◽  
János Zámbori ◽  
Erika Szádóczky
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
Mental Health Disorders ◽  
Health Disorders

scholarly journals The role of intolerance of uncertainty in the acquisition and extinction of reward

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayne Morriss ◽  
Nicolo Biagi ◽  
Tina B. Lonsdorf ◽  
Marta Andreatta
Keyword(s):  
Associative Learning ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Skin Conductance Response ◽  
Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽  
Acquisition Training ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Partial Reward ◽  
Extinction Training ◽  
Corrugator Supercilii

AbstractIndividuals, who score high in self-reported intolerance of uncertainty (IU), tend to find uncertainty anxiety-provoking. IU has been reliably associated with disrupted threat extinction. However, it remains unclear whether IU would be related to disrupted extinction to other arousing stimuli that are not threatening (i.e., rewarding). We addressed this question by conducting a reward associative learning task with acquisition and extinction training phases (n = 58). Throughout the associative learning task, we recorded valence ratings (i.e. liking), skin conductance response (SCR) (i.e. sweating), and corrugator supercilii activity (i.e. brow muscle indicative or negative and positive affect) to learned reward and neutral cues. During acquisition training with partial reward reinforcement, higher IU was associated with greater corrugator supercilii activity to neutral compared to reward cues. IU was not related to valence ratings or SCR’s during the acquisition or extinction training phases. These preliminary results suggest that IU-related deficits during extinction may be limited to situations with threat. The findings further our conceptual understanding of IU’s role in the associative learning and extinction of reward, and in relation to the processing of threat and reward more generally.

The Role of Rural and Urban Geography and Gender in Community Stigma Around Mental Illness

2020 ◽  
pp. 109019812097496
Author(s):  
Shawnda Schroeder ◽  
Chih Ming Tan ◽  
Brian Urlacher ◽  
Thomasine Heitkamp
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Mental Health Disorders ◽  
Mental Illness Stigma ◽  
Stigma Scale ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Health Disorders ◽  
And Gender

Empirical evidence describes the negative outcomes people with mental health disorders experience due to societal stigma. The aim of this study was to examine the role of gender and rural-urban living in perceptions about mental illness. Participants completed the Day’s Mental Illness Stigma Scale, a nationally validated instrument for measuring stigma. Directors of Chambers of Commerce in North Dakota distributed the electronic survey to their members. Additionally, distribution occurred through use of social media and other snowball sampling approaches. Analysis of data gathered from 749 participants occurred through examination of the difference in perceptions based on geography and gender. The zip codes of residence were sorted to distinguish between rural and urban participants. Application of weighting measures ensured closer alignment with the general population characteristics. Findings indicate that for the majority of the seven stigma measures the Day’s Mental Illness Stigma Scale examines, the coefficient of rural–gender interactions was positive and highly significant with higher levels of stigma in rural areas. Females exhibited lower stigma perceptions than males. However, women living in rural areas held higher degrees of stigma compared to urban residing females. Implications of the study include the need to advance mental health literacy campaigns for males and people residing in rural communities. Additional empirical studies that examine the role of geography and gender in understanding stigma toward people with mental health disorders will result in improved treatment outcomes due to increased and focused educational efforts.

scholarly journals Consider Role of Glutamatergic Habenula-projecting Globus Pallidus in OCD

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (04) ◽  
pp. 203-204
Author(s):  
Anton J.M. Loonen ◽  
Svetlana A. Ivanova
Keyword(s):  
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Globus Pallidus ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Specific Role ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Glutamatergic System ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Primary Relationship

AbstractRecently, in a review article in this journal, Vlček and colleagues described the putative role played by the glutamatergic system in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and how this might explain the effects of certain treatments. They describe a neuroanatomical model, which includes a specific role of the amygdala-hippocampus complex (AHC) and would complete the classic cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) mechanism of OCD. The role of the AHC can perhaps be better understood when considering its ancient relationship to the rest of the forebrain of mammals. This leads to distinguishing between primary (lamprey-like), secondary (amphibian-like) and tertiary (mammal-like) parts of the forebrain including amygdaloid, ventral extrapyramidal and dorsal extrapyramidal systems, respectively. A specific role in OCD may be played by the habenula-projecting part of the pallidum, which evaluated the result of behaviour in human’s earliest vertebrate ancestors. The addition of these primary relationship to the authors’ description could be fruitful when planning the future research, as suggested by them.

scholarly journals Parental Mental Health in Childhood as a Risk Factor for Anxiety and Depression among People Seeking Help for Tinnitus and Hyperacusis

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (09) ◽  
pp. 772-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hashir Aazh ◽  
Ali A. Danesh ◽  
Brian C. J. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Risk Factor ◽  
Mental Health Disorders ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Parental Mental Illness ◽  
Parental Mental Health ◽  
Health Disorders ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractParental mental illness is a risk factor for mental health disorders in the offspring. However, the relationship between parental illness in childhood and mental health disorders in adulthood among patients with tinnitus and/or hyperacusis is not known.The aim was to explore the relationship between parental mental health in childhood and anxiety and depression for patients experiencing tinnitus and/or hyperacusis.This was a retrospective cross-sectional study with a correlational design.Two hundred eighty-seven consecutive patients who attended a Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Therapy Specialist Clinic in the United Kingdom were included. Their average age was 52.5 years.The association was explored between anxiety and depression measured via the Generalized Anxiety Disorder questionnaire (GAD-7) and the Patient Health questionnaire (PHQ-9) and responses to the question “While you were growing up during the first 18 years of life did your parent(s) have depression or mental illness?”Thirty-nine percent of patients (111/287) responded “yes” to the question about their parents’ mental health, which is about double the incidence in the general population. Regression analysis showed that parental mental illness significantly increased the risk of anxiety and depression, with unadjusted odds ratios (ORs) of 2.7 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.5–4.9, p = 0.001) for the PHQ-9 and 2.6 (95% CI: 1.4–4.8, p = 0.002) for the GAD-7. However, when the models were adjusted for the effects of age, gender, tinnitus handicap as measured via the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory, hyperacusis handicap as measured via the Hyperacusis questionnaire, uncomfortable loudness levels, GAD-7 scores (for the depression model only), and PHQ-9 scores (for the anxiety model only), parental mental health was only significantly associated with depression, with an OR of 2.7 (95% CI: 1.08–6.7, p = 0.033).Audiologists offering tinnitus and hyperacusis rehabilitation should screen patients for parental mental illness in childhood, especially for those with comorbid depression, and make onward referral to appropriate mental health services when needed. Future research should analyze the breadth and type of adverse childhood experiences among patients with tinnitus and hyperacusis and their relationship with mental problems and treatment efficacy.

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