People with anxiety may strategically choose worrying over relaxing

September 30, 2019

Science Daily/Penn State

Relaxing is supposed to be good for the body and soul, but people with anxiety may actively resist relaxation and continue worrying to avoid a large jump in anxiety if something bad does happen, according to Penn State research.

In a new study, the researchers found that people who were more sensitive to shifts in negative emotion -- quickly moving from a relaxed state to one of fear, for example -- were more likely to feel anxious while being led through relaxation exercises.

Michelle Newman, professor of psychology, said the results could help benefit people who experience "relaxation-induced anxiety," a phenomenon that occurs when people actually become more anxious during relaxation training.

"People may be staying anxious to prevent a large shift in anxiety, but it's actually healthier to let yourself experience those shifts," Newman said. "The more you do it, the more you realize you can do it and it's better to allow yourself to be relaxed at times. Mindfulness training and other interventions can help people let go and live in the moment."

Hanjoo Kim, a graduate student in psychology, said the study also sheds light on why relaxation treatments designed to help people feel better can potentially cause more anxiety.

"People who are more vulnerable to relaxation-induced anxiety are often the ones with anxiety disorders who may need relaxation more than others," Kim said. "And of course, these relaxation techniques were meant to help, not make someone more anxious. Our findings will hopefully serve as a cornerstone for providing better care for these populations."

Newman said that while researchers have known about relaxation-induced anxiety since the 1980s, the specific cause of this phenomenon has remained unknown. When Newman developed the contrast avoidance theory in 2011, she thought the two concepts might be connected.

"The theory revolves around the idea that people may make themselves anxious intentionally as a way to avoid the letdown they might get if something bad were to happen," Newman said. "This isn't actually helpful and just makes you more miserable. But, because most of the things we worry about don't end up happening, what's reinforced in the brain is, 'I worried and it didn't happen so I should continue worrying.'"

For this study, the researchers recruited 96 college students. Participants included 32 people with generalized anxiety disorder, 34 people with major depressive disorder and 30 controls with neither disorder.

When the participants arrived at the lab, the researchers led them through relaxation exercises before having them watch videos that may elicit fear or sadness. The participants then answered a list of questions designed to measure how sensitive they were to changes in their emotional state. For example, some people may be uncomfortable with the negative emotions incited by the videos right after relaxing, while others might find the relaxation session helpful in dealing with those emotions.

Next, the researchers led the participants through a relaxation session once more before having them fill out a second survey. These questions were designed to measure the participants' anxiety during the second relaxation session.

After analyzing the data, the researchers found that people with generalized anxiety disorder were more likely to be sensitive to sharp spikes in emotion, like going from feeling relaxed to feeling scared or stressed. Additionally, this sensitivity was linked to feeling anxious during sessions intended to induce relaxation.

The researchers found similar results in people with major depressive disorder, although the effect wasn't as strong.

Kim said he hopes the results -- recently published in the Journal of Affective Disorders -- may help clinicians provide better care for people with anxiety.

"Measuring relaxation-induced anxiety and implementing exposure techniques targeting the desensitization of negative contrast sensitivity may help patients reduce this anxiety," Kim said. "Also, it would be important to examine relaxation-induced anxiety in other disorders, such as panic disorder and persistent mild depression."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190930114737.htm

Anger more harmful to health of older adults than sadness

Associated with increased inflammation, which can lead to chronic disease

May 9, 2019

Science Daily/American Psychological Association

Anger may be more harmful to an older person's physical health than sadness, potentially increasing inflammation, which is associated with such chronic illnesses as heart disease, arthritis and cancer, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

"As most people age, they simply cannot do the activities they once did, or they may experience the loss of a spouse or a decline in their physical mobility and they can become angry," said Meaghan A. Barlow, MA, of Concordia University, lead author of the study, which was published in Psychology and Aging. "Our study showed that anger can lead to the development of chronic illnesses, whereas sadness did not."

Barlow and her co-authors examined whether anger and sadness contributed to inflammation, an immune response by the body to perceived threats, such as infection or tissue damage. While inflammation in general helps protect the body and assists in healing, long-lasting inflammation can lead to chronic illnesses in old age, according to the authors.

The researchers collected and analyzed data from 226 older adults ages 59 to 93 from Montreal. They grouped participants as being in early old age, 59 to 79 years old, or advanced old age, 80 years old and older.

Over one week, participants completed short questionnaires about how angry or sad they felt. The authors also measured inflammation from blood samples and asked participants if they had any age-related chronic illnesses.

"We found that experiencing anger daily was related to higher levels of inflammation and chronic illness for people 80 years old and older, but not for younger seniors," said study co-author Carsten Wrosch, PhD, also of Concordia University. "Sadness, on the other hand, was not related to inflammation or chronic illness."

Sadness may help older seniors adjust to challenges such as age-related physical and cognitive declines because it can help them disengage from goals that are no longer attainable, said Barlow.

This study showed that not all negative emotions are inherently bad and can be beneficial under certain circumstances, she explained.

"Anger is an energizing emotion that can help motivate people to pursue life goals," said Barlow. "Younger seniors may be able to use that anger as fuel to overcome life's challenges and emerging age-related losses and that can keep them healthier. Anger becomes problematic for adults once they reach 80 years old, however, because that is when many experience irreversible losses and some of life's pleasures fall out of reach."

The authors suggested that education and therapy may help older adults reduce anger by regulating their emotions or by offering better coping strategies to manage the inevitable changes that accompany aging.

"If we better understand which negative emotions are harmful, not harmful or even beneficial to older people, we can teach them how to cope with loss in a healthy way," said Barlow. "This may help them let go of their anger."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190509092729.htm