"The mere imagination scares me"-evidence for fear responses during mental imagery of pain-associated interoceptive sensations in adolescents with chronic pain.

ABSTRACT: According to the bio-informational theory of emotion by Lang, mental imagery of fearful stimuli activates physiological and behavioural response systems, even in the absence of sensory input. We investigated whether instructed mental imagery of pain-associated (not painful) interoceptive sensations entails a threat value and elicits increased startle response, skin conductance level (SCL), and heart rate (HR) indicative of defensive mobilization in adolescents with chronic pain. Additionally, self-reported measures (fear, fear of pain, desire to avoid) were assessed. Adolescents (11-18 years) with chronic headache (CH, n = 46) or chronic abdominal pain (CAP, n = 29) and a control group (n = 28) were asked to imagine individualized pain-associated, neutral and standardized fear scripts. During pain-associated compared with neutral imagery, both pain groups showed higher mean HR, with CH also showing higher HR reactivity, while HR acceleration was not observed within control group. In contrast, during pain-associated compared with neutral imagery, startle response magnitude and SCL remained unchanged in all groups. Additionally, overall levels in self-reports were higher during pain-associated compared with neutral imagery, but significantly more pronounced in the pain groups compared with the control group. Results suggest that the mere imagination of pain-associated sensations elicits specific autonomic fear responses accompanied by increased self-reported fear in adolescents with chronic pain. The specific modulation of heart rate shed new light on our understanding of multimodal fear responses in adolescents with chronic pain and may help to refine paradigms to decrease fear of interoceptive sensations in chronic pain.

Parental anxiety and depression are associated with adverse mental health in children with special needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to restrictions in various areas of life, including social life, work, leisure, health, and education. Vulnerable groups, such as children with special needs and their parents, may be at increased risk of experiencing exacerbated mental health problems during stressful periods such as the COVID-19 lockdowns. Materials and methods: Telephone interviews were conducted with 954 parents of children with special needs. We assessed parental levels of generalized anxiety and depression using the validated GAD-7 and PHQ-8 scales. Parents were asked to rate family burden and their worry about the COVID-19 crisis, as well as their children's adverse mental health symptoms and health behaviors. Parents also reported their children's worries about the COVID-19 crisis. We conducted regressions to examine the relationship between parents' mental health problems and their children's adverse mental health symptoms and health behaviors. Qualitative data from open-ended questions were coded thematically and major themes of parental worry about the COVID-19 crisis were identified. Results: Parental anxiety and depression symptoms predicted adverse mental health symptoms and behaviors in children with special needs. Criteria for current depression were met by 7.9% of parents of children with special needs, whereas 4.7% of the general population in Vorarlberg met the criteria for current depression according to data from the Austrian Health Interview Survey in 2019. Parental self-ratings of both depression and anxiety were highly correlated. The majority of parents reported being burdened (79.1%) or worried (67.8%) about the COVID-19 crisis. The main themes of parental worry about the COVID-19 crisis included COVID-19 infection (40.6%), economic situation (13.1%), uncertainty (8.4%), lack of social contact with family and friends (8.1%), family health status (7.5%), and school life (7.5%). Discussion: Mental health symptoms in parents of children with special needs were strongly associated with increased adverse mental health symptoms and health behaviors in their children. Parents of children with special needs were more likely to be depressed during the COVID-19 pandemic than adults in 2019. We call for additional mental health support to reduce the mental health burden in families with children with special needs.

Large-Group One-Session Treatment: Feasibility in Highly Height Fearful Individuals and Predictors of Outcome.

OBJECTIVE: Exposure based large-group one-session treatments (LG-OSTs) proved feasible in different situational fears and showed promising short- and long-term outcomes. Based on prior LG-OST protocols we explored feasibility and effectiveness of an LG-OST protocol in four cohorts of individuals highly fearful of heights (N = 104). Moreover, we aimed to identify predictors of LG-OST outcome in order to provide individualized treatment recommendations in the future. METHODS: Participants' fear of heights was assessed at pre- and post-treatment as well as at 5 months follow-up using questionnaires and a behavioral approach test (BAT). Pre-treatment indices of negative emotional traits and positive mental health, the extent by which fear-evoking expectancies were violated during exposure, and post-treatment group perception processes were assessed in order to predict the outcome. RESULTS: The LG-OST procedure proved feasible and effective in terms of both subjective and behavioral fear of heights. Post-treatment effects sizes of questionnaires assessing fear of heights ranged between d = 0.94 - 1.43. After the treatment, about half of the participants (49.5%) were able to ascend an aerial fire ladder up to a maximum of 30 m (vs. pre-treatment 17.3%). Follow up results showed the long-term stability of effects. Among psychological constructs, positive mental health and expectancy violation were the strongest predictors of LG-OST long-term outcome. CONCLUSION: We conclude that exposure based LG-OSTs are feasible, effective and very efficient compared to individual face-to-face settings. Thus, they represent very promising treatment alternatives for situational fears including fear of heights. Moreover, clinical research may benefit from LG-OST protocols as its high standardization may facilitate the search for mediators and moderators of exposure outcomes.

Non-indigenous species refined national baseline inventories: A synthesis in the context of the European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

Refined baseline inventories of non-indigenous species (NIS) are set per European Union Member State (MS), in the context of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). The inventories are based on the initial assessment of the MSFD (2012) and the updated data of the European Alien Species Information Network, in collaboration with NIS experts appointed by the MSs. The analysis revealed that a large number of NIS was not reported from the initial assessments. Moreover, several NIS initially listed are currently considered as native in Europe or were proven to be historical misreportings. The refined baseline inventories constitute a milestone for the MSFD Descriptor 2 implementation, providing an improved basis for reporting new NIS introductions, facilitating the MSFD D2 assessment. In addition, the inventories can help MSs in the establishment of monitoring systems of targeted NIS, and foster cooperation on monitoring of NIS across or within shared marine subregions.

Optimizing Expectations via Mobile Apps: A New Approach for Examining and Enhancing Placebo Effects.

There is growing interest in interventions that enhance placebo responses in clinical practice, given the possibility that this would lead to better patient health and more effective therapy outcomes. Previous studies suggest that placebo effects can be maximized by optimizing patients' outcome expectations. However, expectancy interventions are difficult to validate because of methodological challenges, such as reliable blinding of the clinician providing the intervention. Here we propose a novel approach using mobile apps that can provide highly standardized expectancy interventions in a blinded manner, while at the same time assessing data in everyday life using experience sampling methodology (e.g., symptom severity, expectations) and data from smartphone sensors. Methodological advantages include: 1) full standardization; 2) reliable blinding and randomization; 3) disentangling expectation effects from other factors associated with face-to-face interventions; 4) assessing short-term (days), long-term (months), and cumulative effects of expectancy interventions; and 5) investigating possible mechanisms of change. Randomization and expectancy interventions can be realized by the app (e.g., after the clinic/lab visit). As a result, studies can be blinded without the possibility for the clinician to influence study outcomes. Possible app-based expectancy interventions include, for example, verbal suggestions and imagery exercises, although a large number of possible interventions (e.g., hypnosis) could be evaluated using this innovative approach.

Pain vs. comfort diary: A fully remote app-based experiment.

BACKGROUND: Focusing on pain while completing a pain diary might have detrimental effects on pain intensity. Inverted comfort ratings might be used instead. METHODS: A fully remote app-based registered experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of a pain versus comfort diary on 7-day recall ratings of pain intensity during a 3-week period. The diary included questions about past, current and expected pain or comfort. Randomization took place by the study app, thereby controlling for effects of experimenter bias. RESULTS: Contrary to the study hypothesis, multilevel regression showed a more pronounced decrease in 7-day recall ratings of pain in the group who rated pain intensity daily (n = 184) than in the group who rated comfort daily (n = 205, B = -0.17, p = 0.034). There were no between-group differences in secondary outcomes (comfort, depressive symptoms, pain interference and happiness). Exploratory analyses revealed more pronounced decreases in pain intensity in participants who experienced less frequent pain in the previous 6 months. Correlations between pain and comfort ratings decreased from -0.39 at baseline to -0.06 after 3 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: The findings do not support the potential beneficial effects of replacing diary ratings of pain intensity with diary ratings of comfort. The unexpected decreases among those who completed daily pain diaries might have been due to the inclusion of questions about expected pain. Decreasing correlations between pain and comfort ratings suggest that comfort ratings are not merely inverted pain ratings; rather, they appear to assess a domain distinct from pain intensity. SIGNIFICANCE: The positive effects of pain diaries on pain trajectories appear to constitute a reliable effect and not a methodological artefact. Pain diaries should be investigated systematically to identify ways to optimize their effects on clinical outcomes. Comfort diaries, however, do not appear to be an efficacious substitute for pain diaries; if the current findings replicate, they indicate that primary care practitioners should continue to use pain diaries in clinical care.

Defence response mobilization in response to provocation or imagery of interoceptive sensations in adolescents with chronic pain: a study protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Fear of pain seems to be a key factor in the development and maintenance of chronic pain and pain-related disability. Interoceptive fear conditioning is assumed to constitute an important mechanism in the origins and maintenance of fear of pain. If conditioned stimuli such as internal bodily sensations are repeatedly paired with pain (unconditioned stimulus), they in turn elicit a conditioned fear response, including defence mobilization such as startle modulation and changes in heart rate and electrodermal activity. Research into emotional imagery suggests that defensive responses can also be elicited through imagery of fear scripts. OBJECTIVES: We present 2 novel paradigms adapted from research on anxiety disorders, which allow to test, if perceived or imagined sensations locally proximal to the main pain location trigger heightened defence response mobilization in adolescents with chronic headaches and abdominal pain. METHODS: The provocation paradigm includes the anticipation and provocation of locally proximal and locally distal interoceptive sensations through disorder-specific muscle tensing tasks (tightening the neck or the abdominal muscles). The imagery paradigm includes 3 imagery scripts (standard neutral, standard fear, and disorder-specific). Startle probes are presented in both paradigms. Defence response mobilization is assessed using psychophysiological measures (startle response modulation, skin conductance level, and heart rate), as well as self-reported measures of fear. PERSPECTIVE: The paradigms will give insight into the defence response of adolescents with chronic pain, when confronted with or imagining interoceptive sensations. Results may inform the improvement of clinical interventions aimed to decrease fear of bodily sensations such as interoceptive exposure or interoceptive imagery exposure.