Early emotional memories and bonding as predictors of short‐term and long‐term outcome in adults with generalized anxiety disorder

The impact of childhood experiences on the development of psychopathology is well established in the literature. Few studies, however, have assessed parental bonding during childhood as a predictor of response to anxiety disorders treatment. The aim of the study was to examine whether emotional memo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Clinical psychology and psychotherapy Vol. 30; no. 2; pp. 387 - 397
Main Authors:	Vaz, Vivian Pinto, Costa, Marianna de Abreu, Moraes, Flávia, Garcia, Guilherme Abu Hilu, Manfro, Gisele Gus
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	England John Wiley and Sons, Limited 01-03-2023
Subjects:	Adult Anxiety Anxiety disorders Anxiety Disorders - therapy Children early memories Emotions Fluoxetine Generalized anxiety disorder Humans Mental Recall Mindfulness parent–child relations predictors Psychopathology Quality of Life Subordination treatment outcome predictors anxiety disorders early memories generalized anxiety disorder treatment outcome parent-child relations
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Summary:	The impact of childhood experiences on the development of psychopathology is well established in the literature. Few studies, however, have assessed parental bonding during childhood as a predictor of response to anxiety disorders treatment. The aim of the study was to examine whether emotional memories of childhood parenting could predict short‐term and long‐term outcome in three different interventions for patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD): mindfulness‐based intervention (Body in Mind Training [BMT]), fluoxetine (FLX), and an active control group (quality of life [QoL]). A total of 124 participants from a randomized controlled trial for GAD treatment were evaluated pre‐ and post‐treatment and after 18 months. Patients were assessed for the severity of GAD symptoms (GAD‐7, PSWQ, and DERS), early memories of warmth and safeness (EMWSS), and recall of perceived threat and subordination/submission in childhood (ELES). Negative childhood memories predicted a greater reduction in anxiety symptoms on BMT treatment compared to FLX and QoL, whereas positive childhood memories predicted more symptomatic improvement in the QoL group. Our findings suggest that individuals with GAD who have early memories of subordination and threat appear to benefit more from interventions that focus on developing emotion‐regulation strategies and enhancing self‐compassion, such as mindfulness‐based interventions.
Bibliography:	Funding information Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Grant/Award Numbers: 421073/2016‐0, 133175/2020‐0; FIPE‐HCPA, Grant/Award Number: 2016‐0301; Brazilian Research Council CNPq, Grant/Award Number: 306249/2017‐0 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Undefined-3
ISSN:	1063-3995 1099-0879
DOI:	10.1002/cpp.2804