Elke Smeets

Meeting Suffering With Kindness: Effects of a Brief Self-Compassion Intervention for Female College Students

OBJECTIVE The present study investigated the effectiveness of a newly developed 3-week self-compassion group intervention for enhancing resilience and well-being among female college students. METHOD Fifty-two students were randomly assigned to either an intervention designed to teach skills of self-compassion (n = 27) or an active control group intervention in which general time management skills were taught (n = 25). Both interventions comprised 3 group meetings held over 3 weeks. To measure resilience and well-being gains, participants filled out a number of questionnaires before and after the intervention. RESULTS Results showed that the self-compassion intervention led to significantly greater increases in self-compassion, mindfulness, optimism, and self-efficacy, as well as significantly greater decreases in rumination in comparison to the active control intervention. Whereas both interventions increased life satisfaction and connectedness, no differences were found for worry and mood. CONCLUSION These findings suggest that a brief self-compassion intervention has potential for improving student resilience and well-being.

Fantasy proneness, but not self-reported trauma is related to DRM performance of women reporting recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse

Extending a strategy previously used by , we administered a neutral and a trauma-related version of the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm to a sample of women reporting recovered (n=23) or repressed memories (n=16) of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), women reporting having always remembered their abuse (n=55), and women reporting no history of abuse (n=20). We found that individuals reporting recovered memories of CSA are more prone than other participants to falsely recalling and recognizing neutral words that were never presented. Moreover, our study is the first to show that this finding even held when trauma-related material was involved. Correlational analyses revealed that fantasy proneness, but not self-reported traumatic experiences and dissociative symptoms were related to false recall and false recognition.

Attentional bias for body and food in eating disorders: increased distraction, speeded detection, or both?

Previous research suggests that eating disorder patients show an attentional bias for body- and food-related information. However, so far little is known about the mechanisms that underlie the attentional favoring of this particular information in eating disorder patients. In the present study, we used both a body and a food visual search task to study speeded detection and increased distraction in eating disorder patients (n=67) and healthy controls (n=60). Compared with controls, eating disorder patients showed evidence of speeded detection of body-related information, and increased distraction by food information. These results suggest that the mechanism underlying the biased attentional allocation of eating disorder patients varies, and is dependent upon the type of information they are presented with.

Components of attentional bias for food cues among restrained eaters

The study aimed to investigate attentional bias for food cues among restrained eaters. In particular, the roles of speeded detection (enhanced orientation of attention toward food stimuli) and slowed disengagement (trouble disengaging attention from food stimuli) were examined. Participants were 78 female undergraduate students aged 18-25 years, classified as restrained (N=38) or unrestrained eaters (N=40). Attentional bias was assessed by a visual search task which required participants to locate the position of an odd-one-out target word in a matrix of 19 distractor words. Restrained eaters were disproportionately faster than unrestrained eaters to detect a food word within a neutral matrix compared to a neutral word within a neutral distractor matrix. Restrained eaters were also disproportionately faster, rather than slower, than unrestrained eaters to detect a neutral word within a food matrix compared to a neutral word within a neutral distractor matrix. Thus restrained eaters show a heightened vigilance for food cues, but no slower disengagement from such cues.

Experimentally induced chocolate craving leads to an attentional bias in increased distraction but not in speeded detection

In the present study, the causal influence of chocolate craving on attentional bias for chocolate-related information was examined by experimentally inducing chocolate craving in a sample of high trait chocolate cravers vs. low trait chocolate cravers. A sample of 35 high trait chocoholics and 33 low trait chocolate cravers were randomly assigned to either the exposure condition in which craving was manipulated or the non-exposure condition. To measure attentional bias, a pictorial version of the visual search paradigm [Smeets, E., Roefs, A., van Furth, E., & Jansen, A. (2008). Attentional bias for body and food in eating disorders: increased distraction, speeded detection, or both? Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46, 229-238] was used, assessing two components: distraction and detection. It was found that experimentally induced chocolate craving led to increased distraction by chocolate pictures in the high trait chocolate cravers, in comparison to the low trait chocolate cravers. Moreover, this measure of distraction correlated strongly with self-reported craving, but only in the chocoholics and in the exposure condition. In the non-exposure condition, high trait chocolate cravers showed speeded detection of chocolate pictures relative to non-chocoholics, but this component did not correlate with self-reported craving. It is concluded that experimentally induced craving for chocolate causes a bias in, specifically the increased distraction component of attention in high trait chocolate cravers.

Bias for the (un)attractive self: on the role of attention in causing body (dis)satisfaction.

OBJECTIVE Body dissatisfaction plays a key role in the maintenance of eating disorders, and selective attention might be crucial for the origin of body dissatisfaction. A. Jansen, C. Nederkoorn, and S. Mulkens (2005) showed that eating disorder patients attend relatively more to their own unattractive body parts, whereas healthy controls attend relatively more to their own attractive body parts. In 2 studies, we investigated whether this bias in selective attention is causal to body dissatisfaction and whether an experimentally induced bias for attractive body parts might lead to increased body satisfaction in women who are highly dissatisfied with their bodies. DESIGN We used a between-subjects design in which participants were trained to attend to either their self-defined unattractive body parts or their self-defined attractive body parts by use of an eye tracker. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES State body and weight satisfaction. RESULTS Inducing a temporary attentional bias for self-defined unattractive body parts led to a significant decrease in body satisfaction and teaching body-dissatisfied women to attend to their own attractive body parts led to a significant increase in body satisfaction. CONCLUSION Selective attention for unattractive body parts can play a role in the development of body dissatisfaction, and changing the way one looks may be a new way for improving body dissatisfaction in women.

Body Checking Induces an Attentional Bias for Body-Related Cues

OBJECTIVE Theoretical models suggest that body checking is linked to biased cognitive processing. However, this link has not been investigated in any systematic way. The present study examined the influence of body checking on attentional bias for body-related cues by manipulating body checking behaviors in nonclinical participants. METHOD 66 women were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: body checking, body exposure, or control. A body visual search task was used to measure attentional bias. RESULTS Participants in the body checking condition showed speeded detection of body-related information compared to participants in the exposure and control conditions. No evidence was found for increased distraction by body-related information. Furthermore, participants in the body checking condition reported more body dissatisfaction after the manipulation than participants in the body exposure and control conditions. DISCUSSION These results are the first to experimentally establish the link between body checking and attentional bias toward body-related cues.

Don't get the message: the effect of a warning text before visiting a proanorexia website.

OBJECTIVE This study examined the effect of the placement of a warning text before visiting proanorexia websites on actual access of these websites. METHOD A separate webpage with a warning text aiming at first-time visitors was placed before each proanorexia website hosted by a Dutch Internet provider. During the research period of 1 year, the numbers of hits at the warning webpage were registered together with the numbers of hits at the underlying proanorexia website. RESULTS Of the total number of hits registered at the warning webpage, about two-third of the visitors were registered at the underlying proanorexia website. This indicates that about one-third of the visitors did not continue their visit to a proanorexia website after being exposed to the warning text. DISCUSSION Placement of a warning text before proanorexia websites appears a promising strategy in holding back potential visitors.

Happy despite pain: Pilot study of a positive psychology intervention for patients with chronic pain

Abstract Background and purpose Dealing with chronic pain is difficult and affects physiological as well as psychological well-being. Patients with chronic pain are often reporting concurrent emotional problems such as low mood and depressive symptoms. Considering this, treatments need to involve strategies for improving mood and promoting well-being in this group of patients. With the rise of the positive psychology movement, relatively simple intervention strategies to increase positive feelings, cognitions, and behaviours have become available. So far, the evidence for positive psychology techniques mainly comes from studies with healthy participants, and from studies with patients expressing emotional problems such as depression or anxiety as their main complaint. This study describes an initial attempt to explore the potential effects of a positive psychology intervention in a small sample of patients suffering from chronic pain. Methods A replicated single case design was employed with five participants. The participants started to fill out daily self-reports and weekly questionnaires two weeks before the intervention started, and continued throughout the intervention. In addition, they filled out a battery of questionnaires at pretest, posttest, and at a three months follow-up. The instruments for assessment were selected to cover areas and constructs which are important for pain problems in general (e.g. disability, life satisfaction, central psychological factors) as well as more specific constructs from positive psychology (e.g. compassion, savoring beliefs). Results The results on pre and post assessments showed an effect on some of the measures. However, according to a more objective measure of reliable change (Reliable Change Index, RCI), the effects were quite modest. On the weekly measures, there was a trend towards improvements for three of the participants, whereas the other two basically did not show any improvement. The daily ratings were rather difficult to interpret because of their large variability, both between and within individuals. For the group of participants as a whole, the largest improvements were on measures of disability and catastrophizing. Conclusions The results of this preliminary study indicate that a positive psychology intervention may have beneficial effects for some chronic pain patients. Although it is not to be expected that a limited positive psychology intervention on its own is sufficient to treat pain-related disability in chronic patients, our findings suggest that for some it may be an advantageous complement to enhance the effects of other interventions. Implications The results of this pilot study about the potential effects of a positive psychology intervention for chronic pain patients may be encouraging, warranting a larger randomized controlled study. Future studies may also concentrate on integrating positive psychology techniques into existing treatments, such as composite CBT-programs for chronic pain patients. Our advice is that positive psychology interventions are not to be regarded as stand-alone treatments for this group of patients, but may potentially enhance the effect of other interventions. However, when and for which patients these techniques may be recommended is to be explored in future research.

Happy Despite Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial of an 8-week Internet-delivered Positive Psychology Intervention for Enhancing Well-being in Patients With Chronic Pain

Objectives: There is preliminary evidence for the efficacy of positive psychology interventions for pain management. The current study examined the effects of an internet-based positive psychology self-help program for patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain and compared it with an internet-based cognitive-behavioral program. Materials and Methods: A randomized controlled trial was carried out with 3 conditions: an internet-delivered positive psychology program, an internet-delivered cognitive-behavioral program and waitlist control. A total of 276 patients were randomized to 1 of the 3 conditions and posttreatment data were obtained from 206 patients. Primary outcomes were happiness, depression, and physical impairments at posttreatment and at 6-month follow-up. Intention-to-treat analyses were carried out using mixed regression analyses. Results: Both treatments led to significant increases in happiness and decreases in depression. Physical impairments did not significantly decrease compared with waitlist. Improvements in happiness and depression were maintained until 6-month follow-up. There were no overall differences in the efficacy of the 2 active interventions but effects seemed to be moderated by education. Patients with a higher level of education profited slightly more from the positive psychology intervention than from the cognitive-behavioral program. Discussion: The results suggest that an internet-based positive psychology and cognitive-behavioral self-help interventions for the management of chronic pain are clinically useful. Because the self-help exercises as used in the current program do not require therapist involvement, dissemination potential is large. Further studies should examine whether it can best be used as stand-alone or add-on treatment combined with established pain treatment programs.