Modifying the implicit illness-related self-concept in patients with somatoform disorders may reduce somatic symptoms.

Background: According to dual process theories, not only do explicit but also implicit cognitive processes play a major role in the development and maintenance of somatoform disorders(SFDs). Recent evidence [1] suggests that patients with SFD shave a stronger implicit illness-related self-concept, which is related to the experience of medically unexplained symptoms.

Purpose: The current study was designed to investigate a possible causal link between biased implicit associations and symptoms in SFD patients by experimentally modifying the implicit illness-related self-concept.

The implicit health-related self-concept in somatoform disorders.

Background And Objective: Dual-process theories stress the importance of explicit as well as implicit cognitive processes for the development of somatoform disorders (SFDs).(1) In particular, the self-concept has been demonstrated to be a key factor in SFD. Yet, the self-concept in SFDs has been studied only on an explicit but not on an implicit level.

Activity inhibition: a predictor of lateralized brain function during stress?

The authors tested the hypothesis that activity inhibition (AI), a measure of the frequency of the word "not" in written material, marks a propensity to engage functions of the right hemisphere (RH) and disengage functions of the left hemisphere (LH), particularly during stress. Study 1 and Study 2 showed that high AI predicts faster detection of stimuli presented to the RH, relative to the LH. Study 2 provided evidence that the AI-laterality effect is specific to perceptual, but not motor, laterality and that it is particularly strong in individuals with low mood, but absent in individuals in a positive mood state.