[go: up one dir, main page]
More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/ Skip to main content
Log in

Attentional Bias in Generalized Anxiety Disorder Versus Depressive Disorder

  • Published:
Cognitive Therapy and Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This review evaluates evidence of attentional biases in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and depressive disorder from studies using modified Stroop and visual probe tasks. There appears to be fairly consistent evidence for an attentional bias for external negative cues in GAD, and for the involvement of non-conscious processes in this bias. By contrast, in clinical depression, the evidence for an attentional bias is less robust, despite depressive disorder being commonly associated with high levels of co-morbid anxiety. Where an attentional bias has been found in depressed patients, it seems to occur mainly for self-relevant negative information which is presented under conditions that allow or encourage elaborative processing. Possible explanations for this discrepant pattern of results, and their theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
£29.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (United Kingdom)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • American Psychiatric Association (1987). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed., Revised). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ballenger, J. C. (1999). Current treatments of anxiety disorders in adults. Biological Psychiatry, 46, 1579–1594.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T. (1976). Cognitive therapy and the emotional disorders. New York: International Universities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T., & Emery, G. (1985). Anxiety disorders and phobias: A cognitive perspective. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T., Rush, A. J., Shaw, B. F., & Emery, G. (1979). Cognitive Therapy of Depression: A Treatment Manual. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, E. S., Rinck, M., Magraf, J., & Roth, W. T. (2001). The emotional Stroop effect in anxiety disorders—general emotionality or disorder specificity? Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 15, 147–159.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley, B. P., Mogg, K., Falla, S. J., & Hamilton, L. R. (1998). Attentional bias for threatening facial expressions in anxiety: Manipulation of stimulus duration. Cognition and Emotion, 12, 737–753.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradley, B. P., Mogg, K., Millar, N., & White, J. (1995). Selective processing of negative information: Effects of clinical anxiety, concurrent depression, and awareness. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104, 3, 532–536.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley, B. P., Mogg, K., White, J., Groom, C., & de Bono, J. (1999). Attentional bias for emotional faces in generalised anxiety disorder. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 38, 267–278.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, T. A., Campbell, L. A., Lehman, Grisham, J. R., & Mancill, R. B. (2001). Current and lifetime co-morbidity of DSM-IV anxiety and mood disorders in a large clinical sample. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 110, 585–599.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Butler, G., Fennell, M., Robson, P., & Gelder, M. (1991). Comparison of behaviour therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59, 167–175.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, D. M. (1999). Anxiety disorders: Why they persist and how to treat them. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 37, S5–S27.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • de Ruiter, C., & Brosschot, J. F. (1994). The emotional Stroop interference in anxiety: Attentional bias or cognitive avoidance. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 32, 315–319.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eizenman, M., Yu, L. H., Grupp, L., Eizenman, E., Ellenbogen, M., Gemar, M., & Levitan, R. D. (2003). A naturalistic visual scanning approach to assess selective attention in major depressive disorder. Psychiatry Research, 118, 117–128.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, E., Russo, R., Bowles, R., & Dutton, K. (2001). Do threatening stimuli draw or hold visual attention in subclinical anxiety. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 130, 681–700.

    Google Scholar 

  • Golombok, S., Stavrou, A., Bonn, J., Mogg, K., Critchlow, S., & Rust, J. (1991) Effects of diazepam on anxiety-related cognition. Cognitive Research and Therapy, 15, 459–467.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gotlib, I. H., & Cane, D. B. (1987). Construct accessibility and clinical depression: a longitudinal investigation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 96, 199–204.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kendler, K. S., Neale, M. C., Kessler, R. C., Heath, A. C., & Eaves, L. J. (1992). Major depression and generalized anxiety disorder: Same genes, (partly) different environments? Archives of General Psychiatry, 49, 716–722.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • MacLeod, C., Mathews, A., & Tata, P. (1986). Attentional bias in emotional disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95, 15–20.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • MacLeod, C., Rutherford, E. M., Campbell, L., Ebsworthy, G., & Holker, L. (2002). Selective attention and emotion vulnerability: Assessing the causal basis of their association through the experimental induction of attentional bias. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 111, 107– 123.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, M., Williams, R., & Clark, D. (1991). Does anxiety lead to selective processing of threat-related information? Behaviour Research and Therapy, 29, 147–160.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mathews, A., & Macikntosh, B. (1998). A cognitive model of selective processing in anxiety. Cognitive Therapy & Research, 22, 539–560.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mathews, A., & Sebastian, S. (1993). Suppression of emotional Stroop effects by fear arousal. Cognition & Emotion, 7, 517–530.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mathews, A., & Klug, F. (1993). Emotionality and interference with colour-naming in anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 31, 57–62.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mathews, A., & MacLeod, C. (1985). Selective processing of threat cues in anxiety states. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 23, 563–569.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mathews, A., & MacLeod, C. (1994). Cognitive approaches to emotion and emotional disorders. Annual Review of Psychology, 45, 25–50.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mathews, A., & MacLeod, C. (2002). Induced processing biases have causal effects on anxiety. Cognition and Emotion, 16, 331–354.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mathews, A., Mogg, K., Kentish, J., & Eysenck, M. (1995). Effects of psychological treatment on cognitive bias in generalised anxiety disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33, 293–303.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mathews, A., Ridgeway, V., & Williamson, D. A. (1996). Evidence for attention to threatening stimuli in depression. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 34, 695–705.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McCabe, S. B., & Gotlib, I. H. (1995). Selective attention and clinical depression: Performance on a deployment of attention task. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104, 241–245.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mineka, S., Watson, D., & Clark, L. A. (1998). Comorbidity of anxiety and unipolar mood disorders. Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 377–412.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mogg, K., & Bradley, B. P. (1998). A cognitive-motivational analysis of anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 809–848.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mogg, K., & Bradley, B. P. (1999). Some methodological issues in assessing attentional biases for threatening faces in anxiety: A replication study using a modified version of the probe detection task. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 37, 595–604.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mogg, K., & Bradley, B. P. (in press). A cognitive-motivational perspective on the processing of threat information and anxiety. In J. Yiend (Ed.). Cognition, emotion and psychopathology. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

  • Mogg, K., Bradley, B. P., Williams, R., & Mathews, A. (1993). Subliminal processing of emotional information in anxiety and depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 102, 304–311.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mogg, K., Bradley, B. P., & Williams, R. (1995). Attentional bias in anxiety and depression: the role of awareness. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 34, 17–36.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mogg, K., Mathews, A., & Eysenck, M. (1992). Attentional bias in clinical anxiety states. Cognition and Emotion, 6, 149–159.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mogg, K., Mathews, A., & Weinman, J. (1989). Selective processing of threat cues in clinical anxiety states: A replication. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 27, 317–323.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mogg, K., Mathews, A., May, J., Grove, M., Eysenck, M., & Weinman, J. (1991). Assessment of cognitive bias in anxiety and depression using a colour perception task. Cognition and Emotion, 5, 221-238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mogg, K., Bradley, B. P., Miles, F., & Dixon, R. (in press). Time course of attentional bias for threat scenes: Testing the vigilance-avoidance hypothesis. Cognition and Emotion.

  • Mogg, K., Millar, N., & Bradley, B. P. (2000). Biases in eye movements to threatening facial expressions in generalised anxiety disorder and depressive disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 19, 695-704.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neshat-Doost, H., Taghavi, R., Moradi, A., Yule, W., & Dalgleish, T. (1997). The performance of clinically depressed children and adolescents on the modified Stroop paradigm. Personality and Individual Differences, 23, 753–759.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neshat-Doost, H. T., Moradi, A. R., Taghavi, M. R., Yule, W., & Dalgleish, T. (2000). Lack of attentional bias for emotional information in clinically depressed children and adolescents. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 41, 363–368.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nunn, J. D., Mathews, A., & Trower, P. (1997). Selective processing of concern-related information in depression. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 36, 489–503.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Oatley, K., & Johnson-Laird, P. (1987). Towards a cognitive theory of emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 1, 29–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Posner, M. I., Snyder, C. R., & Davidson, B. J. (1980). Attention and the detection of signals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 109, 160–174.

    Google Scholar 

  • Segal, Z. V., Hood, J. E., Shaw, B. F., & Higgins, E. T. (1988). A structural analysis of the self-schema construct in major depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 12, 471–485.

    Google Scholar 

  • Segal, Z. V., Truchon, C., Gemar, M., Guirguis, M., & Horowitz, L. M. (1995). A priming methodology for studying self-representation in major depressive disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104, 205–213.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shankman, S. A., & Klein, D. N. (2003). The relation between depression and anxiety: An evaluation of the tripartite, approach-withdrawal and valence-arousal models. Clinical Psychology Review, 23, 605–637.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Simons, A. D., Murphy, G. E., Levine, J. L., & Wetzel, R. D. (1986). Cognitive therapy and pharmacotherapy for depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 43, 43–50.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Suslow, T., Junghanns, K., & Arolt, V. (2001). Detection of facial expressions of emotions in depression. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 92, 857–868.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taghavi, M. R., Neshat-Doost, H. T., Moradi, A. R., Yule, W., & Dalgleish, T. (1999). Biases in visual attention in children and adolescents with clinical anxiety and mixed anxiety-depression. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 27, 215–223.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tyrer, P. (1984). Classification of anxiety. British Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 78–83.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, J. M. G., Mathews, A., & MacLeod, C. (1996). The emotional Stroop task and psychopathology. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 3–24.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, J. M. G., Watts, F. N., MacLeod, C., & Mathews, A. (1988). Cognitive psychology and emotional disorders. Chichester: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, J. M. G., Watts, F. N., MacLeod, C., & Mathews, A. (1997). Cognitive psychology and emotional disorders. Second Edition. Chichester: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mogg, K., Bradley, B.P. Attentional Bias in Generalized Anxiety Disorder Versus Depressive Disorder. Cogn Ther Res 29, 29–45 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-005-1646-y

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-005-1646-y

Key words

Navigation