Effectiveness of an attentional control training on decreasing intrusive thoughts

Includes bibliographical references (p. 24-27).Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is characterized by an inability to inhibit intrusive memories of a trauma. Working memory deficits have been implicated in the experience of such intrusions. Therefore, attempts to improve working memory may also improve deficits in inhibitory control characteristic of PTSD. One component of working memory is attentional control, and because anxious individuals show attentional control difficulties as revealed by more attention bias to negative material when compared to non-anxious individuals, this component of working memory may be involved in anxiety. The current study used an attentional control task in an attempt to train participants' attention when confronted with negative material. Seventy-five undergraduate students at SDSU completed one of two training tasks, either with or without attention disengagement. Participants then completed a thought monitoring task during which intrusive thoughts about a negative event were assessed. I hypothesized that participants in the training condition with threat-disengagement would demonstrate less intrusive thoughts during a thought monitoring task than participants in the second training condition. Results revealed that participants in the threat disengagement attentional control condition experienced more intrusions than those in the non-threat disengagement attentional control condition. These results imply that the attentional control training without threat disengagement may be useful in reducing symptoms of PTSD. Future studies should examine whether this program works similarly in clinical populations