Studied by 4 people
Studies for IB psychology Abnormal option (paper 2)
Regier et al. (2012)
Aim: to assess reliability of selected disorders in DSM-5
Method: USA, Canada, 11 academic centers, screening of participants according to previous DSM-IV diagnosis + symptoms. Diagnostic interviews with two clinicians (unaware of previous diagnosis). → Statistical analysis
Results: overall 23 different diagnoses, Reliability: 5 very good, 9 good, 6 questionable, 3 unnacceptable. Also good inter-rater reliability.
Conclusion: diagnoses are mostly reliable (consistant)
Reed et al. (2011)
Aim: to investigate psychiatrists attitudes towards classification of disorders
Method: Survey through professional associations → correlational, globally
Results: 83% use a formal classification system often or always, 64% use ICD-10 (tho only 1% in US and 5% in AUSTRALIA), many found cultural applicability to be difficult
Conclusion: Cultural validity of any classification system might be limited
Reliability and Validity of diagnosis studies
Reed et al. (2011), Regier et al. (2012)
Bexter et al. (2013)
Aim: to investigate the prevalence of anxiety disorders globally
Method: meta analysis of 87 studies in 44 countries
Results: global prevalence 7.3% (range from 5.3 in africas to 10.4 in euro), wide variabliity in methods used, major cultural differences may explain results
Kessler et al. (2009)
Aim: to investigate global patterns of psychological disorders
Method: review and analysis of data from a survey based sample by WHO, ,collected in 28 countries.
Results: Globally variance in estimates but higher in more economically developed countries, especially european. USA has highest prevalence of all (overall lifetime anxiety, almost 30%, tho GAD just 3.1%), women were 60% more likely to experience anxiety. China starting to follow similar trend.
Conclusion: global prevalence varies wow yeah…
Global prevalence studies
Kessler et al. (2009), Baxter et al. (2013)
Hettema et al. (2005)
Aim: to examine genetic predispositions and environmental factors in high rates of comorbidity of anxiety disorders
Method: sample of 5000 twins from Virginia Adult Twin study, personal interviews → collect lifetime diagnosis of 6 anxiety disorders. Earlier collected genetic and environmental data. Analyzed
Results: variance in specific phobias influenced by common genetic factor, variance in other anxiety disorders influenced by another common factor. Remaining variance explained by mix of environmental factors. HOWEVER: females had nearly double the rate of Anxiety, yet same genetic and environmental factors
Conclusion: genetic predisposition and environment affects, but something more going on.
Newman and Llera (2010)
Aim: to investigate how worry affects emotional response to emotional stimuli
Method: 73 university undergraduates, 38 had GAD, 35 did not. Random assignment to: Worry (2min thinking of worrysome topic), Relax (2 min thinking of how to slow breathing rate) and Control (2 min thinking of neutral topic of weekend). Pre-test emotion quiz, then 2-3 min emotionally provoking film (fear, sad, calm, happy). Post-test emotion quiz. Then repeated untill all participants seen all 4.
Results: GAD reported more perceived threat from emotional experiences (significant for sadness, guilt, fear). Inducing worry before film reduced emotional effect of film (especially of negative emotions)
Conclusion: worrying seems to limit intensity of negative emotions → maybe reason for worry in GAD → support for emotional avoidance.
Explanations for anxiety studies
Hettema et al. (2005), Newman and Llera (2010)
