The Role of Disease Conviction: Exploring Its Effects on Chest Pain and Anxiety-Related Models of Non-cardiac Chest Pain.

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of disease conviction in the chest pain and life interference of patients with non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP), after controlling for anxiety sensitivity and body vigilance. While all three psychological constructs are theoretically implicated and empirically associated with the experience of NCCP, no research has examined the influence of disease conviction in the context of other relevant constructs. The sample included 229 participants with NCCP who were recruited after a medical evaluation failed to elicit an organic explanation for their chest pain.

Heart-Focused Anxiety in Patients With Noncardiac Chest Pain: Structure and Validity.

Heart-focused anxiety (HFA) is a fear of cardiac sensations driven by worries of physical health catastrophe. HFA is impairing and distressing and has been shown to disproportionately affect individuals with noncardiac chest pain (NCCP), chest pain that persists in the absence of an identifiable source. The Cardiac Anxiety Questionnaire (CAQ) is a measure designed to assess HFA.

Differential Parental Influence in the Familial Aggregation of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

The familial nature of OCD has been well established. Clinical characteristics such as early age of onset, comorbidity with tic disorders, and higher rates of symmetry symptoms have been associated with the familial aggregation of OCD, though little research has examined the differential impact of paternal and maternal OCD. The current study explored parental influence on the expression of these characteristics and reports on 310 probands diagnosed with OCD as well as 1,580 of their biological first-degree relatives.

The relationship between religion and thought-action fusion: use of an in vivo paradigm.

Research has demonstrated that higher levels of religiosity are positively correlated with thought-action fusion (TAF), a set of cognitive biases found to be associated with obsessive-compulsive symptoms. However, previous studies have exclusively relied on a nomothetic approach to measuring TAF using a single self-report instrument, the thought-action fusion scale. The current study examined the relationship between religiosity and TAF using an in vivo behaviorally-based assessment in which participants thought about and wrote down thoughts of negative events involving loved ones.