Weiss, Lennart Carsten (2022) Do Mindfulness based Interventions decrease Anxiety Sensitivity by promoting an adaptive Coping Style? Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Anxiety sensitivity (AS) has gained substantial support to be a vulnerability factor exacerbating virtually all anxiety disorders. Little research exists on interventions that can successfully treat AS, and underlying mechanisms that could explain potential treatment effects remain unexplored. Mindfulness interventions (MBI) gathered support to effectively treat anxiety. Being an easily applied, evidence-based intervention, they may also be utilized to target AS transdiagnostically, which is especially useful where access to a psychological professional is limited. Further, research has shown that how one copes with anxiety provoking events influences AS and, in extension, anxiety. Investigating coping styles’ effect on AS could provide insight in how such intervention works. By fostering acceptance of aversive emotional reactions and adaption of a non-judgmental attitude of curiosity, we propose that MBI 1) decrease AS and 2) enhance Coping Self-efficacy (CSE). CSE is 3) proposed to mediate an inverse relationship between MBI and AS. Participants with high trait anxiety (N = 105) were invited to follow 12 sessions of either a guided MBI, or listening to audiobooks. Results indicate an overall positive effect of the intervention on AS and CSE. However, mindfulness was not more effective than our control condition. Additionally, CSE did not mediate the relationship between MBI and AS. This could be due to the limited time we conducted the interventions, or because accepting negative experience did not motivate participants to engage into solution-based behavior. Thus, research is needed to establish determents of when and how MBI can be conducted most effectively. Keywords: anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, mindfulness interventions, coping style, coping self-efficacy
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Supervisor name: | Papenfuss, I. and Ostafin, B.D. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Clinical Psychology (CP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 01 Sep 2022 09:30 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Sep 2022 09:30 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/1402 |
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