Date of Graduation
2001
Document Type
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
Although emotional control maintains a central role in contemporary models of anxiety pathology, particularly panic disorder, there is little understanding about the ways in which specific control processes alter anxiety-related responding. In the present study, offset control over eight 20% carbon dioxide-enriched air administrations was experimentally manipulated in a large nonclinical population (n = 96) varying in anxiety sensitivity (high or low) and gender. Dependent measures included self-reported anxiety, affective reports of valence, arousal, emotional control, and physiological indices of heart rate and skin conductance. High anxiety sensitive participants who lacked offset control reported significantly greater elevations in self-reported anxiety, emotional displeasure, arousal, and dyscontrol relative to their yoked counterparts with offset control. In contrast, low anxiety sensitive individuals responded with similar levels of psychological and affective distress regardless of the control manipulation. Although the provocation procedure reliably produced bodily arousal relative to baseline, at a physiological level of analysis, no significant differences emerged across conditions. These findings are discussed in relation to emotional dysregulation accounts anxious and fearful responding during recurrent interoceptive arousal, with implications for better understanding the etiology of panic disorder.
Recommended Citation
Zvolensky, Michael J., "Controllability and anxious responding: Experimental evaluation using 20% carbon dioxide-enriched air." (2001). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 10126.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/10126