Mood-congruent thoughts and personality disorder pathology

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Abstract

The primary aim of this research was to investigate associations that depression severity and trait anxiety have with reactions to specific, identifiable thoughts experienced by persons with varying levels of personality disorder (PD) pathology as they went about their day-to-day lives. Ninety-eight psychotropic medication-free persons participated in an experience sampling assessment procedure over four consecutive days, during which participants recorded specific thoughts experienced moments before a page signal was received and corresponding ratings of thought discomfort. Thought discomfort, regarded as an emotional reaction to thoughts or their evaluation, was moderately associated with several forms of PD pathology, particularly Cluster C pathology. Once depression severity and trait anxiety were controlled, however, associations between PD pathology and thought discomfort were eliminated. Findings from this research generally support the mood-congruence of negatively valenced thoughts in relation to PD pathology.

Highlights

► We investigate associations that mood has with reactions to specific thoughts. ► Thought discomfort was related to Cluster C personality disorder (PD) symptoms. ► When mood was controlled, PD pathology and thought discomfort were unrelated. ► Negatively valenced thoughts demonstrate mood-congruence in relation to PDs.

Introduction

Research on the association of mood and cognition generally suggests that negative thinking patterns are mood state dependent, or largely evident within the confines of negative moods and mostly absent once such states have remitted (e.g., Brosse et al., 1999, Roberts and Gamble, 2001). A theoretical perspective consistent with such observations is Bower’s (1981) original affect priming model. This model and the subsequent revision (the affect infusion model; Bower and Forgas, 2000, Forgas, 1999) suggest that when relevant situational triggers activate affective nodes, affective arousal results in a spread of activation among dense sets of affectively linked beliefs, expectations, attitudes, and memories. Affect or mood, then, is viewed as an inseparable component from the processes involved in the appraisal, selection, storage, and retrieval of information. When individuals are in a depressed mood state, for example, they are more likely to recall depressogenic memories or report negative views or beliefs compared with people experiencing euthymic states (Bower & Forgas, 2000). Cognitive contents and processes (e.g., memories, beliefs, assumptions, evaluations, preferences, and judgments) are therefore likely to evidence mood congruence when strong moods or emotions are present.

Consistent with the broad outlines of Bower’s and Forgas’ affect infusion model, the primary objective of the present research was to evaluate the proposition that the ongoing thoughts of persons with personality disorders (PDs) or significant PD pathology will be regarded as distressing only to the extent that such persons are also experiencing negative moods. Distressing thinking in this study was indexed by the degree of comfort versus discomfort associated with identifiable thoughts experienced during discrete moments as participants went about their daily routines. Thought discomfort has been conceptualized as an emotional reaction to a specific thought (Salkovskis, 1989, Salkovskis et al., 2000). Features of thoughts that might occasion discomfort include the thought’s content, appraisal, meaning, believability, uncontrollability, emotional valence, conflicting properties, and self-referential qualities (Masuda et al., 2010, Purdon et al., 2005, Salkovskis et al., 2000). Research performed with a variety of diverse samples has documented that thought discomfort is commonly associated with negative affect, particularly anxiety and depressed mood (Purdon et al., 2005, Reynolds and Salkovskis, 1991). Thought discomfort, therefore, can be conceptualized as a broad barometer of the pervasiveness of distressing or negative thinking and may serve as a bridge between enduring mood patterns and cognition.

The present research examines associations of thought discomfort with self-reports of negative moods (i.e., depression severity and trait anxiety) and forms of PD pathology. Our primary hypotheses are as follows. First, given the association of negative mood with PD pathology generally, those with PDs are expected to report more thought discomfort than those without PDs. Second, when the association of PD pathology with thought discomfort is examined, we hypothesize that individuals high in Cluster C PD features (the anxious–fearful personality disorders) will be the most uncomfortable with their thoughts. Previous research has indicated that some PDs, particularly those associated with Cluster C, are strongly associated with negative moods (Kantojärvi et al., 2006), with negative moods experienced among those with PDs from other clusters largely accounted for by covarying Cluster C features (Farmer, Nash, & Dance, 2004). Third, and consistent with mood-congruency hypothesis, ongoing thoughts among persons with PDs or PD features will be experienced as distressing or uncomfortable only to the extent that specific PDs or PD-related features are associated with negative moods. Fourth, thought discomfort will not be significantly related to PD pathology once depression severity and trait anxiety are controlled.

Section snippets

Participants

Before participant recruitment efforts were initiated, study procedures and methods were reviewed by a university institutional review board and found to be consistent with accepted ethical standards for research. Newspaper advertisements, posted notices, and flyers that included descriptions of experiences commonly associated with PD pathology were used to recruit prospective participants from the community (see Farmer & Chapman, 2002, for a detailed description of recruitment methods). The

Sample characteristics

When participants who provided usable ESM data were contrasted with those who did not in the areas of gender, age, mean PD dimensional scores at the cluster level of analysis, and the presence versus absence of any PD diagnoses, the only significant difference noted was for age. Those who provided usable ESM data were significantly (p < .05) older (Ms = 29.49 and 25.75, respectively). Among those who provided usable ESM data, 57 (58.1%) met criteria for at least one PD. Within this group, all PDs

Discussion

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate whether discomfort associated with specific identifiable thoughts was related to forms of PD pathology, and whether these relationships remained after negative mood assessed before participation in the ESM task was taken into account. In this research, thought discomfort was viewed as a barometer for the presence of distressing or negatively appraised thoughts (Reynolds and Salkovskis, 1992, Salkovskis, 1989). Given central assumptions of the

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