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| Int'l Symposium - Analysis of Verbal Processes in Clinical Values Methods |
| Monday, May 30, 2005 |
| 9:00 AM–10:20 AM |
| Private Dining Room 3 (3rd floor) |
| Area: EAB; Domain: Basic Research |
| Chair: Miguel Rodriguez-Valverde (University of Almeria, Spain) |
| Discussant: Rainer Franz Sonntag (Private practice) |
| Abstract: This session presents three studies concerned all of them with the analysis of values clarification according to the processes involved in Experiential Avoidance Disorder and, consequently, according respectively to the ways that mainstream cognitive therapies and new behavioural psychotherapies confront clinical experiential avoidance. The first paper addresses, first, the impact of orienting specifically valued experimental task in the context of two relations as personal values, respectively to Control and Acceptance Pain. Then specific acceptance-based and cognitive-control-based strategies were compared in coping with experimentally induced pain. The second paper examines the effects of acceptance and personalization versus generic values on tolerance for and perception of aversive stimulation. The third study presents an analogue for personal psychological impact of aversive private events by analysing the . conditions under which aversive private events change their value according to coordination with valued actions or against them. |
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| Experimental Pain Task in the Context of Values |
| MIGUEL RODRIGUEZ-VALVERDE (University of Almeria, Spain), Marisa Páez Blarrina (University of Almeria, Spain), M. Carmen Luciano-Soriano (University of Almeria, Spain), Olga Gutierrez Martinez (University of Almeria, Spain) |
| Abstract: Given a previous values context specifically related to each kind of strategy, this study compares specific acceptance-based and cognitive-control-based strategies for coping with experimentally induced pain. Thirty participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. Ten were assigned to an acceptance-based protocol (ACT) addressed to framing pain-related thoughts and feelings as in coordination with personal values, while disconnecting pain-related thoughts and feelings from literal actions. Another ten to a cognitive-based protocol (COG) addressed to framing those thoughts and feelings as in opposition to reaching one’s personal values, while trying to change or control such private events related to pain. The remaining were assigned to an experimental control condition (CONT). Participants took part in a nonsense-syllables-matching task that involved successive exposures to increasingly painful shocks. At different times throughout the task, participants had to choose whether to continue with the task and be shocked or stop performing the task and avoid being shocked, and they had explicit benefits and costs for each option. Two measures were obtained: tolerance to shocks and self-reports of pain. ACT participants showed significantly higher tolerance to pain and lower believability of pain perceptions as compared to the COG and CONT conditions. Conceptual and clinical implications are discussed. |
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| Acceptance and Personal Values in the Context of Aversive Stimulation |
| HAZEL MOORE (National University Ireland, Galway), Ian T. Stewart (National University Ireland, Galway), Dermot Barnes-Holmes (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Yvonne Barnes-Holmes (National University of Ireland, Maynooth) |
| Abstract: This study examined the effects of acceptance and personalization of values on tolerance for and perception of aversive stimulation in the form of periodic electric shock. Forty participants were randomly assigned to either an acceptance-based protocol (ACT), designed to disconnect pain-related thoughts and feelings from literal actions, or to a control-based protocol (CONT) that focused on changing or controlling pain-related thoughts and feelings. Furthermore, for half the participants in both conditions, participation in the study was explicitly linked with important personal values whereas for the remainder it was linked with generic values. All participants took part in a nonsense-syllables-matching task that involved successive exposures to increasingly aversive shocks. At times throughout the task, participants were asked to choose to continue with the task and be shocked or stop the task and avoid being shocked. Participants performed the task twice, both before and after receiving the assigned experimental protocol. Two further measures were obtained at pre- and post-intervention: tolerance of the shocks and self-reports of pain. Results showed that ACT participants showed higher tolerance of aversive stimulation and lower believability of experienced pain. The results are also relevant to the systematic analysis of values in clinical analogue studies of psychological acceptance. |
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| Coordination and Opposition Relations Between Aversive Private Events and Evalued Actions: An Experimental Preparation |
| M. CARMEN LUCIANO-SORIANO (University of Almeria, Spain), Dermot Barnes-Holmes (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Yvonne Barnes-Holmes (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Miguel Rodriguez-Valverde (University of Almeria, Spain), Olga Gutierrez Martinez (University of Almeria, Spain), Francisco J. Molina-Cobos (University of Almeria, Spain), Kelly G. Wilson (University of Mississippi) |
| Abstract: The analysis of the conditions under which aversive private events change their value is the main goal of this study. Two relevant context are analyzed in this study that concern those involved, on the one hand, in Experiential Avoidance Disorder –EAD-(where aversive private events are against valued actions), and on the other hand, in Acceptance Commitment Therapy -ACT (where this aversive private events are contextualized in coordination with valued actions). Four groups of ten subjects each took part in the study. Two of them underwent two experimental conditions (one group per condition) where different relations with private events were experimentally established: (1) A coordination relation with valued actions, and (2) an opposite relation with valued actions. The other two served as control conditions. Results are discussed in terms of the transformation of functions involved in each condition, as well as in terms of EAD prevention. The clinical implications of the study are remarked in regard to their relevance for understanding some clinical methods in ACT. |
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