Conscious thought during the resting state in patients with severe health anxiety and patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder.

Abstract

The resting state is a commonly used paradigm in neuroimaging studies that has demonstrated differences in functional connectivity during rest in anxiety disorders, compared to healthy controls. Surprisingly, the psychological aspects (e.g., thoughts, feelings) during the resting state have largely been ignored in clinical populations, while increasingly studied in healthy populations. To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first study to examine the cognitive and affective experiences of resting state cognition in patients with psychiatric disorders. In the present study, 31 patients with severe health anxiety, 32 patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and 32 control participants completed a 3-min resting state task, followed by a standardized questionnaire developed specifically to assess thoughts and feelings experienced during the resting period. Compared to healthy controls, both patient groups reported more discontinuity of mind, more negative feelings, more health concern and less comfort during rest. Patients with OCD reported more visual thought than the other groups. When controlling for depressive symptoms, patients with severe health anxiety reported more health concern than did patients with OCD. The study highlights the importance and informative value of examining qualities of resting state cognition (e.g., the subjective feeling of reduced control over one’s thoughts, experiencing negative feelings) in health anxiety and OCD, and introduces psychological assessment of resting state cognition as a viable paradigm in the study of clinical disorders.

Pre-retirement Employees Experience Lasting Improvements in Resilience and Well-Being After Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

“…One must feel comfortable to maintain focus of attention, including to own thoughts as reflected in the strong negative correlations between Discontinuity of Mind and Comfort (Diaz et al, 2013). Several studies using the ARSQ have reported reduced Comfort in clinical cohorts, including insomnia (Palagini et al, 2016), autism (Simpraga et al, 2021), and also health anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder (Gehrt et al, 2020). Thus, there is a need and our results indicate a potential for MBSR to facilitate a greater feeling of comfort in these disorders.…”

“…Using the ARSQ, reproducible patterns of individual thoughts and feelings have been observed, and associated with scores on insomnia, anxiety, and depression in large population samples (Diaz et al, 2013). Likewise, mental disorders including health anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder (Gehrt et al, 2020) insomnia disorder (Palagini et al, 2016) and autism spectrum disorder (Simpraga et al, 2021) have been associated with distinct ARSQ profiles. Studies of the therapeutic benefits of MBSR have used clinical scales that refer to experiences during weeks or even months to assess participants' well-being, as well as symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression.…”

Thought characteristics in patients with severe health anxiety: A comparison with obsessive–compulsive disorder and healthy controls.

“…The study was reviewed by the ethics committee at the Center on Autobiographical Memory Research, Aarhus University, Denmark. The main measures presented in this article are nonoverlapping with previous publications from this study Gehrt, Frostholm, Pallesen, et al, 2020).…”

Adverse childhood experiences in patients with severe health anxiety: No evidence for an increased frequency compared to patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder

“…All participants agreed to an informed consent form explaining the nature of the study, as well as issues relating to confidentiality and withdrawal. The main measures presented in this article are non‐overlapping with previous publications from this study (Gehrt, Frostholm, Obermann & Berntsen, 2020a; Gehrt, Frostholm, Pallesen et al ., 2020b; Gehrt et al ., 2022). 2…”