Mary E. Oglesby’s research while affiliated with Florida State University and other places

Background and objectives: Anxiety sensitivity (AS) social concerns, the fear of observable anxiety symptoms is posited as a risk factor for social anxiety by increasing fear reactivity in social situations when observable anxiety symptoms are present. Experimental evaluation of AS social concerns is limited. The current study utilized several manipulations designed to be relevant to AS social concerns or fear of negative evaluation (FNE), a distinct social anxiety risk factor. The effects of these manipulations on fear reactivity to a speech were examined. Methods: Participants (N = 124 students; M age = 19.44, SD = 2.45; 64.5% female) were randomized to one of four conditions in a 2 (100 mg niacin vs 100 mg sugar pill) X 2 (instructional set) design. For the instructional set manipulation, participants were told their speech performance would be evaluated by a judge based on their performance (i.e., FNE-relevant) or their observable anxiety symptoms (i.e., AS social concerns-relevant). Results: There was a main effect for vitamin condition with participants in the niacin condition reporting higher panic symptoms post-speech relative to those in the placebo condition. There was no main effect for speech instructions. As hypothesized, these effects were qualified by an interaction indicating that AS social concerns significantly predicted panic symptoms for those receiving niacin. Limitations: Limitations include the reliance on self-reports of outcome variables and the use of an undergraduate student sample. Conclusions: These findings highlight a distinct role of AS social concerns in fear responding to socially evaluative situations in the context of physically observable arousal.

Background: Despite evidence that insomnia symptoms exacerbate alcohol use disorder symptoms, there is a dearth of prospective research testing bidirectional associations between these variables. Furthermore, no studies have prospectively examined these associations among military personnel, a vulnerable population for sleep- and alcohol-related problems. Thus, the current study examined whether insomnia symptoms prospectively predicted increased alcohol use disorder symptoms among a sample of military service members and veterans over a 6-month follow-up period, as well as whether alcohol use disorder symptoms led to increases in insomnia. Method: Hypotheses were tested among a sample of 274 current and past military service members who participated in a baseline and 6-month assessment using self-report measures. Results: Path analyses revealed that insomnia symptoms significantly prospectively predicted increased month-6 heavy drinking and alcohol-related problems, but not days drinking or being bothered by drinking. None of the alcohol variables significantly predicted insomnia. Conclusion: Results support a model in which insomnia symptoms exacerbate alcohol use disorder symptoms, specifically heavy drinking and alcohol-related problems. Future research should seek to examine these findings in diverse populations and test potential mechanisms and clinical implications of these results.

Background and objectives: Intolerance of uncertainty (IU), or fear of the unknown, is as an important transdiagnostic risk factor across anxiety-related conditions, namely generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and social anxiety disorder (SAD). IU is typically indexed using self-report measures. Given the importance of multi-method assessments and the shortcomings associated with existing behavioral indices of IU, additional methods of assessment are needed. Emerging literature supports the use of interpretation bias (IB) paradigms to index constructs such as IU. However, only one study to date has examined the association between an IU-focused IB paradigm (IU-IB) and self-report IU and no research has investigated whether an IU-IB paradigm would be related to increased anxiety-related symptoms. Methods: The current investigation examined the utility of an IU-IB paradigm across two separate samples wherein participants completed an interpretation bias task and self-report measures. Sample 1 included 86 participants (74.4% female; Mage = 19.14) and sample 2 included 138 participants (79.7% female; Mage = 18.88). Results: Findings from Study 1 indicated a significant association between an exaggerated IU-IB and symptoms of GAD and OCD, and this relationship held after covarying for negative affect. Study 2 results indicated a significant relationship between an exaggerated IU-IB and symptoms of GAD, OCD, and SAD, after covarying for negative affect. Limitations: The current study had a variety of limitations, including the use of cross-sectional data and an undergraduate sample. Conclusions: These findings provide an important replication and extension of previous work and highlight the transdiagnostic utility of this IU-IB task.

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU), defined as an inability to tolerate the unpleasant response triggered by the observed absence of information, has received increased empirical attention in recent years. The contribution of this cognitive behavioral construct to the etiology and maintenance of various anxiety disorders has become increasingly recognized. However, the relationship between IU and other affective disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), remains largely unexplored. The current study sought to examine the relationship between IU and overall PTSD symptom and cluster severity using an outpatient sample of veterans (N = 116) assessed using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth edition (DSM-5) PTSD symptom structure. Results revealed that IU was significantly associated with overall PTSD symptom severity, above and beyond relevant covariates. Further, IU was significantly associated with the PTSD avoidance and hyperarousal clusters. Prospective IU, rather than inhibitory IU, accounted for these unique associations. These findings add to a growing body of literature establishing IU as a transdiagnostic risk factor and point to the importance of future research on the role of IU in contributing to and/or maintaining PTSD symptoms.

Distress tolerance (DT), defined as the perceived and/or actual behavioral capacity to tolerate negative emotional states, is considered an important risk factor for various externalizing and internalizing disorders. Despite the importance of DT in the development and maintenance of psychopathology, few reliable and valid indicators of DT have been developed. One potentially useful way to assess DT is through interpretation bias (IB) paradigms. The current study sought to examine the convergent validity, reliability, and clinical utility of a DT-focused IB paradigm by directly measuring an individual's interpretations of distressing information. Participants completed a DT-IB task and self-report questionnaires. Results found an association between DTS self-report and an exaggerated DT-IB. Reliability analyses found the word pairings in our DT-IB task to display good internal consistency. In addition, an exaggerated DT-IB was associated with diagnostic status after covarying for negative affect and self-report DTS and DT-IB was associated with increased levels of negative affect above and beyond self-report DTS. This study is the first to identify specific interpretation biases for distress-related information. Given the transdiagnostic nature of DT and the efficacy and accessibility associated with CBM-I protocols for related constructs, the present findings add considerably to a growing body of literature.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a notably heterogeneous disorder. As such, there has been increased interest in subtyping OCD into homogeneous entities using biological characteristics such as sex. Whereas there is large consensus in the literature regarding sex differences in the phenotypic expression of OCD, there are numerous disadvantages to how OCD has been previously measured and assessed. The present investigation explored potential sex differences in OCD symptoms using the Dimensional Obsessive Compulsive Scale (DOCS), a redesigned measure that more reliably assesses the four most commonly replicated OCD symptom dimensions. A large sample of community participants with elevated levels of OCD symptoms (N = 297) was recruited from an online crowdsourcing marketplace. Surprisingly, no differences in means were observed across sexes. However, results did reveal sex differences when examining relations between OCD dimensions. In particular, correlations between the OCD symptom dimensions were stronger in males compared to females. The common perception of OCD as a heterogeneous disorder may hold for females more so than for males. Future research should seek to replicate these findings using multimethod approaches including clinical, behavioral, and neuroimaging assessments.

Within a hierarchical framework for depressive and anxiety disorders, negative affect (NA) is posited to be indirectly related to social anxiety and depression through cognitive vulnerabilities, including intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and anxiety sensitivity (AS). However, few prior studies have considered whether the lower-order dimensions of IU (i.e., prospective and inhibitory IU) and AS (i.e., physical, cognitive, and social concerns) better explain the indirect relation between NA and social anxiety and depression. The indirect relations between NA and social anxiety and depression through these cognitive vulnerabilities were examined using structural equation modeling in a clinical sample (N = 298). NA and social anxiety symptoms were indirectly related through AS social concerns and inhibitory IU, although a direct effect of NA was also found. Only AS social concerns explained the relation between NA and a social anxiety disorder diagnosis. AS cognitive concerns was the only cognitive vulnerability factor to indirectly explain the relation between NA and depressive symptoms, although a direct effect of NA was also found. These findings suggest that the lower-order dimensions of AS and IU demonstrate more specific and less transdiagnostic associations with social anxiety and depression.

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is an important transdiagnostic variable within various anxiety and mood disorders. Theory suggests that individuals high in IU interpret ambiguous information in a more threatening manner. A parallel line of research has shown that interpretive biases can be modified through cognitive training and previous research aimed at modifying negative interpretations through Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM-I) has yielded promising results. Despite these findings, no research to date has examined the efficacy of an IU-focused CBM-I paradigm. The current study investigated the impact of a brief IU-focused CBM-I on reductions in IU. Participants selected for a high IU interpretation bias (IU-IB) were randomly assigned to an active (IU CBM-I) or control CBM-I condition. Results indicated that our active IU CBM-I was associated with significant changes in IU-IB from pre-to-post intervention as well as with significant reductions in IU at post-intervention and month-one follow-up. Findings also found that the IU CBM-I led to reductions in IU self-report via the hypothesized mechanism. This study is the first to provide evidence that a CBM-I focused on IU is effective in reducing IU-IB and IU across time and suggest that IU CBM-I paradigms may be a novel prevention/intervention treatment for anxiety.

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) has been proposed as an important transdiagnostic variable within mood- and anxiety-related disorders. The extant literature has suggested that individuals high in IU interpret uncertainty more negatively. Furthermore, theoretical models of IU posit that those elevated in IU may experience an uncertain threat as more anxiety-provoking than a certain threat. However, no research to date has experimentally manipulated the certainty of an impending threat while utilizing an in vivo stressor. In the current study, undergraduate participants (N = 79) were randomized to one of two conditions: certain threat (participants were told that later on in the study they would give a 3-minute speech) or uncertain threat (participants were told that later on in the study they would flip a coin to determine whether or not they would give a 3-minute speech). Participants also completed self-report questionnaires measuring their baseline state anxiety, baseline trait IU, and pre-speech state anxiety. Results indicated that trait IU was associated with greater state anticipatory anxiety when the prospect of giving a speech was made uncertain (i.e., uncertain condition). Further, findings indicated no significant difference in anticipatory state anxiety among individuals high in IU when comparing an uncertain versus certain threat (i.e., uncertain and certain threat conditions, respectively). Furthermore, results found no significant interaction between condition and trait IU when predicting state anticipatory anxiety. This investigation is the first to test a crucial component of IU theory while utilizing an ecologically valid paradigm. Results of the present study are discussed in terms of theoretical models of IU and directions for future work.

Prior research has shown that difficulties in emotion regulation is associated with overall levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). However, it is currently unclear which facets of difficulties in emotion regulation (e.g., lack of emotion regulation strategies, impulse control problems, non-acceptance of emotional responses) are associated with specific PTSS clusters. This information may be valuable in refining treatment approaches in PTSS. The aim of the current study was to use structural equation modeling to test the relationships between Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) subfactors and PTSS in a trauma-exposed community sample (N = 746). Results indicated that impulse control difficulties were most consistently associated across PTSS clusters (i.e., re-experiencing, avoidance, and hyperarousal), while lack of emotion regulation strategies and emotional clarity were uniquely associated with numbing symptoms, after covarying for neuroticism. However, other facets of difficulties in emotion regulation (i.e., non-acceptance of emotional responses and difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior while upset) were not associated with PTSS. These findings provide further support for the role of difficulties in emotion regulation in specific PTSS clusters. Additionally, they suggest that impulse control problems may be important in the development of most PTSS and thus most beneficial to target clinically, while lack of emotional clarity and effective emotion regulation strategies may be specific to numbing symptoms.