Patricia Edith Campos Coy’s research while affiliated with National Institute of Psychiatry Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz and other places

Introduction: Distress intolerance has been implicated in various aspects of smoking maintenance and quit behavior, although past work has been conducted almost exclusively among European American samples. Method: The present study sought to extend past work by exploring distinct subdimensions of distress tolerance (Tolerance, Appraisal, Regulation, and Absorption) among a sample of 113 (53.1% female; Mage=22.81, SD=2.13) adult daily smokers from Mexico City, Mexico in regard to multiple indices of problematic smoking. Results: Results indicated that the Appraisal dimension of distress intolerance was associated with smoking more cigarettes per day, a greater number of (lifetime) failed quit attempts, and an increased likelihood of early smoking relapse. These findings remained significant after controlling for negative affectivity, gender, alcohol usage as well as the variance accounted for by other distress tolerance dimensions. Conclusions: Such results provide novel preliminary empirical evidence that lesser perceived ability to tolerate distress because it is appraised as 'unacceptable' may be a particularly important element of the construct in terms of better understanding multiple public health relevant indicators of smoking for Mexican smokers. Overall, the present findings uniquely contribute to a growing body of research related to distress intolerance and its implications for explicating the nature of the maintenance of smoking behavior among a highly understudied segment of the smoking population (Mexican smokers).

The aim of the present study was to evaluate a factor mixture-based taxonic-dimensional model of anxiety sensitivity (AS) (Bernstein et al. Behavior Therapy 41:515-521, 2010), as measured by the ASI-3 (Taylor et al. Psychological Assessment 19:176-188, 2007), in regard to panic attacks, anxiety symptoms, and behavioral impairment among a university sample (N = 150, n females = 107, M age = 21.3 years, SD = 4.3) and a clinical sample (N = 150, n females = 102, M age = 39.0 years, SD = 12.0) from Mexico City, Mexico. Findings demonstrated cross-national support for the conceptual and operational utility of the AS taxonic-dimensional hypothesis (Bernstein et al. Journal of Anxiety Disorders 20:1-22, 2007b). Specifically, (1) the FMM-based AS taxon class base rate was significantly greater among the clinical relative to the university sample; (2) risk for panic attacks was significantly greater among the AS taxon class relative to the AS normative class; and (3) continuous individual differences in AS physical and psychological concerns, within the AS taxon class, were associated with level of risk for panic attacks, as well as panic attack severity and anxiety symptom levels. Similar AS taxonic-dimensional effects were observed in relation to degree of behavioral impairment across domains of functioning. The study results are discussed with respect to their implications for better understanding the nature of AS-related cognitive vulnerability for panic and related anxiety psychopathology.

Evidence from recent studies about the epidemiology of panic disorder (PD) indicates that it is present in 4.7% of general population. In Mexico City, 2.9% of females and 1.9% of males are affected by this disease. Due to the incidence cited above, it is considered an important mental health problem that has impacted social, labor and familiar areas. On the other hand, PD is frequently present in comorbidity with other disorders like major depression, social phobia and generalized anxiety disorder. Moreover, in some cases, it may lead to a suicide risk. PD is characterized by recurrent, unexpected panic attacks, and is commonly associated with agoraphobia. A panic attack is defined as a discrete period of fear or discomfort that includes physical, cognitive and behavioral symptoms. Physical symptoms comprise short breath,palpitations, sweating, dizziness, gastrointestinal discomfort, and chest pain. Cognitive symptoms are associated with catastrophic interpretation of bodily sensations; behavioral symptoms are mainly avoidant of different places, situations and actions that patient had associated with fear of loss of control. In the past few years there has been a growing interest in the neuropsychology of anxiety disorders. Neuropsychological evaluation is relevant because it implies an objective assessment of the cognitive and behavioral abilities and weaknesses that make possible the prediction of the course of the disorder and the effects of treatment modalities. One of the most important contributions of neuropsychological evaluation is the identification of stable patterns of cognitive profiles of a specific disorder considered as neurocognitive endophenotypes. Some recent studies have demonstrated the relationship between neuropsychological alterations and anxiety; nevertheless, most of them were observed in obsessive-compulsive disorder patients. On the other hand, studies examining neuropsychological functioning in PD patients are scarce and report conflicting results. The main objective of the present study was to evaluate whether PD patients with and without agoraphobia, who attended the National Institute of Psychiatry «Ramón de la Fuente» in Mexico City, showed neuropsychological impairments relative to healthy controls in attention, memory and executive functions. We studied a total sample of 48 subjects (24 patients with PD, the patients sample was selected according to a psychiatric evaluation, based on DSM-IV-TR criteria. Inclusion criteria were age between 19 and 56, men or women, without previous pharmacological or psychotherapeutically treatment; and 24 gender, age and education matched healthy control subjects). A neuropsychological test battery (Neuropsi Attention and Memory) in Spanish with norms by age and educational level was administered. The Neuropsi assesses orientation, attention and concentration, executive functions, working memory and immediate and delayed verbal and visual memory. Likewise, all patients were assessed with the Anxiety Sensitivity Index, Beck’s Anxiety Inventory and Panic Disorder Severity Scale. According to this psychometric evaluation, the PD patients showed severe anxiety, high anxiety sensitivity, as well as a severe degree of panic symptoms. The results of the present study indicate that the neuropsychological test performance of patients with PD is diminished relative to that of the health control. According to obtained results, there were significant differences in the total score of executive functions and attention, memory and global attention and memory between patients and healthy controls. In the analysis of different subscales, it was found that patients had reduced performance in visual search, digit backward span, world list free recall, Rey-Ostereith Complex Figure Test encoding and retrieval, word list cued recall, faces retrieval and in diverse executive functions like category formation test, semantic and phonological verbal fluency, as well as design fluency. This suggests that PD is associated with alterations in tasks that require flexibility in the mental processes, short-term memory, working memory, and in the generation of strategies to solve problems. However, it is possible that these alterations were present before the onset of panic disorder and predispose the ulterior development of this disorder. In the visual detection subscale, that evaluates selective attention, there were also differences in latency of response because patients were slower than healthy controls trying to find the correct figure. This deficiency is associated with the difficulty of PD patients to perceive important details of the environment due to the extreme attention in the corporal sensations. Besides, no group differences were found in orientation, attention and concentration. These findings are consistent with previous studies with PD patients, where impairments in verbal memory, executive functions and visuospatial memory were found. Nevertheless, these findings differ from the reported by others studies, where neuropsychological alterations in PD patients were found. These discrepancies could be due to methodological procedures in the sample selection, pharmacological treatment, intensity of anxiety, and the use of different neuropsychological instruments. In the present study, the clinical sample was characterized by absence of pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatments before neuropsychological evaluation was done with the Neuropsi. A notable finding was that, in the face recognition subscale,patients had better scores than controls. This can be related to a previous reported finding, which suggested that PD patients pay more attention to the details of a face to evaluate if these are safe or unsafe before the possibility of having a panic attack. Also, it is possible to consider it like an special ability developed by these patients as a compensatorybehavior before the disability caused by this disorder and the vulnerability they experience when not having control of their symptoms. In conclusion, we have demonstrated deficits in the visuospatial and verbal memory, and executive functions in PD patients. Thisfinding supported a disturbance in the amygdaline fronto-temporal neural network in the disorder, related in the conditioned fear network involved in the etiology of panic disorder. Future neuropsychological studies will benefit from use of neuroimaging studies to examine pattern of brain activation and elucidate the pathophysiology features of the disorder. As well asdetermine whether cognitive performance varies as a function of severity of panic symptoms.

Panic disorder is a complex phenomenon according to its biochemical and psychosocial etiology. Therapeutic interventions of panic disorder are aimed to promote effectiveness through the combined use of medication and behavioral cognitive therapy. Anxiety is a normal human response. Moderate levels of anxiety are well accepted because they act as an aid to improve performance, and high levels of anxiety are experienced as normal if they are consistent with the demands of the situation. Persons with anxiety disorders complain of experiencing anxiety too often but they seek help also to overcome fears they recognize as irrational and intrusive. From a psychological point of view, behavioral cognitive techniques -such as hyperventilation control, exposure, and cognitive therapy- and structured problem solving have been successful in the treatment of the symptoms associated to anxiety. It is worth to emphasize that graded exposure is perhaps the most powerful technique assisting patients to overcome fearful situations. Cognitions are also important because it has been found that panic attacks occur when people process information in the external environment, as well as internal somatic stimuli, as though they were threatening experiences. In other words, they feel they have no control over their sensations. Panic attacks prevalence in Mexico City is 1.1% in men and 2.5% in women. It is more frequent among 25-to 34- year old single men and married women, with an average scholarity between 7 and 9 years. From a biological point of view, it is suggested that the etiology of panic attacks involves the participation of the serotonergic and adrenergic neurotransmitter systems, as well as the GABA/ benzodiacepine. Studies based on the noradrenergic theory had lead to conclude that panicking patients have more sensitive brainstem carbon dioxide receptors than normal control subjects. At the same time, other lines of work indicate that serotonergic transmission may also play an important role in the genesis of panic attacks. It has been found that patients with panic disorder may have a lower tolerance threshold to methoclorophenylpiperazine response than control subjects because of hypertensive serotonergic receptors. The accumulated laboratory evidence seems to support the idea that panic attacks begin with the stimulation of irritable foci in one of three brainstem areas: the medullary chemoreceptors, the noradrenergic pontine locus coeruleus, or the serotonergic midbrain dorsal raphe. On the other hand, biofeedback is a psychophysiological intervention that allows in the first place for the external control of some of the physical symptoms involved in this disorder, which is later transferred to internal control of psychophysiological cognitions and behaviors that enable the patient to prevent symptom's occurrence. Based on the principles of the General Systems Theory, biofeedback utilizes the concepts of self regulation and disregulation to describe the conditions under wich normally integrated self-regulatory systems may become imbalanced with regard to their positive and negative feedback loops. Technically, all that a person needs to do is to attend to the signals feedback and not to "try" to control them; the effects of a positive feedback loop should occur automatically, without conscious awareness, as long as the person processes the stimuli. Biofeedback has been effectively used in the treatment of essential hypertension, migraine headaches, Raynaud's disease, tension headaches, temporomandibular joint syndrome, asthma, primary dysmenorrhea, peptic ulcers, fecal incontinence, and conditioning of electroencephalographic rhythms, among other problems. The present study reports data from 32 panic disorder outpatients from the National Psychiatry Institute, Mexico City. They were randomly assigned to: Control Group (N = 14): daily doses of 75 milligrams of imipramine. The participants of this group were required to assist to the psychology department in order to obtain a baseline (pre-test and post-test) with the biofeedback equipment. In addition, every two weeks they visited a psychiatrist who verified that there were no collateral effects from the medicament. Experimental Group (N = 18): besides daily doses of imipramine, and visits to the psychiatrist, these patients went through eight multimodal biofeedback and behavioral cognitive techniques which were assisted with relaxation training sessions. All biofeedback sessions lasted 30 minutes divided in six five-minute trails. The first and final trials served to stabilize the biological responses, and the four middle trials were used to give biofeedback and reinforcement to the response being trained in addition to the verbal explanation of the changes occurring on the screen of the computer. All patients were assessed with the Anxiety Sensitivity Index, and with Beck's Anxiety and Depression Inventories. Results showed that patients in the experimental group reported significant lower scores in the anxiety sensitivity index than the control group. Post-test differences showed that the electromiographic and electrodermic activity from the experimental group was lower than the one from the control group. Diaphragmatic respiration training and progressive muscular relaxation and imagery proved to be effective in reducing the symptoms associated to panic attacks. The overall final result is that all patients improved clinically. They verbally reported that the intensity, frequency and evitative behaviors derived from panic attacks had almost disappeared. However, the cognitive factor of anxiety sensitivity changed significanty only in the experimental group. These findings support the hypothesis that clinical improvement results from a symptom "reattribution" which gives them cognitive skills to cope with stressing stimuli. Further studies should reassess the effectiveness of the combined treatment (imipramine and behavioral cognitive techniques). It is also recommended to expand the study to generalized anxiety disorder and to adjust the experimental design in order to incorporate a second phase with neurofeedback as independent variable. Equally important is to investigate the mechanisms of the hypnotic ability and its impact on the clinical improvement of anxiety disorders.

Panic disorder is a complex phenomenon according to its biochemical and psychosocial etiology. Therapeutic interventions of panic disorder are aimed to promote effectiveness through the combined use of medication and behavioral cognitive therapy. Anxiety is a normal human response. Moderate levels of anxiety are well accepted because they act as an aid to improve performance, and high levels of anxiety are experienced as normal if they are consistent with the demands of the situation. Persons with anxiety disorders complain of experiencing anxiety too often but they seek help also to overcome fears they recognize as irrational and intrusive. From a psychological point of view, behavioral cognitive techniques -such as hyperventilation control, exposure, and cognitive therapy- and structured problem solving have been successful in the treatment of the symptoms associated to anxiety. It is worth to emphasize that graded exposure is perhaps the most powerful technique assisting patients to overcome fearful situations. Cognitions are also important because it has been found that panic attacks occur when people process information in the external environment, as well as internal somatic stimuli, as though they were threatening experiences. In other words, they feel they have no control over their sensations. Panic attacks prevalence in Mexico City is 1.1% in men and 2.5% in women. It is more frequent among 25-to 34- year old single men and married women, with an average scholarity between 7 and 9 years. From a biological point of view, it is suggested that the etiology of panic attacks involves the participation of the serotonergic and adrenergic neurotransmitter systems, as well as the GABA/benzodiacepine. Studies based on the noradrenergic theory had lead to conclude that panicking patients have more sensitive brainstem carbon dioxide receptors than normal control subjects. At the same time, other lines of work indicate that serotonergic transmission may also play an important role in the genesis of panic attacks. It has been found that patients with panic disorder may have a lower tolerance threshold to methoclorophenylpiperazine response than control subjects because of hypertensive serotonergic receptors. The accumulated laboratory evidence seems to support the idea that panic attacks begin with the stimulation of irritable foci in one of three brainstem areas: the medullary chemoreceptors, the noradrenergic pontine locus coeruleus, or the serotonergic midbrain dorsal raphe. On the other hand, biofeedback is a psychophysiological intervention that allows in the first place for the external control of some of the physical symptoms involved in this disorder, which is later transferred to internal control of psychophysiological cognitions and behaviors that enable the patient to prevent symptom's occurrence. Based on the principles of the General Systems Theory, biofeedback utilizes the concepts of self regulation and disregulation to describe the conditions under wich normally integrated self-regulatory systems may become imbalanced with regard to their positive and negative feedback loops. Technically, all that a person needs to do is to attend to the signals feedback and not to "try" to control them; the effects of a positive feedback loop should occur automatically, without conscious awareness, as long as the person processes the stimuli. Biofeedback has been effectively used in the treatment of essential hypertension, migraine headaches, Raynaud's disease, tension headaches, temporomandibular joint syndrome, asthma, primary dysmenorrhea, peptic ulcers, fecal incontinence, and conditioning of electroencephalographic rhythms, among other problems. The present study reports data from 32 panic disorder outpatients from the National Psychiatry Institute, Mexico City. They were randomly assigned to: Control Group (N = 14): daily doses of 75 milligrams of imipramine. The participants of this group were required to assist to the psychology department in order to obtain a baseline (pre-test and post-test) with the biofeedback equipment. In addition, every two weeks they visited a psychiatrist who verified that there were no collateral effects from the medicament. Experimental Group (N = 18): besides daily doses of imipramine, and visits to the psychiatrist, these patients went through eight multimodal biofeedback and behavioral cognitive techniques which were assisted with relaxation training sessions. All biofeedback sessions lasted 30 minutes divided in six five-minute trails. The first and final trials served to stabilize the biological responses, and the four middle trials were used to give biofeedback and reinforcement to the response being trained in addition to the verbal explanation of the changes occurring on the screen of the computer. All patients were assessed with the Anxiety Sensitivity Index, and with Beck's Anxiety and Depression Inventories. Results showed that patients in the experimental group reported significant lower scores in the anxiety sensitivity index than the control group. Post-test differences showed that the electromiographic and electrodermic activity from the experimental group was lower than the one from the control group. Diaphragmatic respiration training and progressive muscular relaxation and imagery proved to be effective in reducing the symptoms associated to panic attacks. The overall final result is that all patients improved clinically. They verbally reported that the intensity, frequency and evitative behaviors derived from panic attacks had almost disappeared. However, the cognitive factor of anxiety sensitivity changed significant only in the experimental group. These findings support the hypothesis that clinical improvement results from a symptom " reattribution" which gives them cognitive skills to cope with stressing stimuli. Further studies should reassess the effectiveness of the combined treatment (imipramine and behavioral cognitive techniques). It is also recommended to expand the study to generalized anxiety disorder and to adjust the experimental design in order to incorporate a second phase with neurofeedback as independent variable. Equally important is to investigate the mechanisms of the hypnotic ability and its impact on the clinical improvement of anxiety disorders.