A big knowledge gap exists about the cause, pathophysiology and course of burnout symptoms. Therefore, the current study investigates how worry cross-sectionally and prospectively relates to ...Show moreA big knowledge gap exists about the cause, pathophysiology and course of burnout symptoms. Therefore, the current study investigates how worry cross-sectionally and prospectively relates to (components of) burnout and tests whether this relation is moderated by gender. Data of self-reported measures in a longitudinal study of 516 participants were analyzed using multiple regression analyses. Our data show a strong, positive cross-sectional relation between the level of pathological worry and the severity of burnout symptoms. However, the course of burnout symptoms was best predicted by burnout symptoms at baseline and worry did not additionally predict burnout symptoms. Moreover, the components emotional exhaustion and lowered professional efficacy were related to worry, whereas cynicism was not related. Additionally, the study could not confirm that gender moderates between worry and burnout. It can be concluded that the level of pathological worry and (two components) of burnout are positively related. Yet this association is not moderated by gender. A limitation of this study is that the measurements were based on self-reported inventories in an uncontrolled environment. Our findings strengthen the model of PC and create a basis for further research. An opportunity for future research is to further study the relation of worry in somatic and psychological health. Finally, future research could address the prospective relation of pathological worry of the severity of burnout symptoms in a clinical sample, since this relationship has not been researched yet.Show less
Background: Research suggests that in times of a pandemic, perceived risk cognition and preventive behavior are essential factors for containing the outbreak. Previous studies suggest that health...Show moreBackground: Research suggests that in times of a pandemic, perceived risk cognition and preventive behavior are essential factors for containing the outbreak. Previous studies suggest that health anxiety and neuroticism are important determinants of the behavioral and cognitive response to the virus. Method: The current study investigates these determinants during the beginning of the new coronavirus outbreak using longitudinal questionnaire data derived from the LISS panel. In a sample of Dutch participants (N = 2903), we tested the hypotheses that neuroticism and health anxiety predicted the corona response. Results: Regression analyses showed that higher health anxiety – assessed 6 years before the pandemic - was a predictor of more preventive behaviors and perceived risk. Contrary to the hypothesis, neuroticism was not associated with preventive behavior and risk perceptions. Exploratory analyses showed that higher agreeableness, extraversion, being a woman, and higher education predicted more preventive measures. Furthermore, being a woman and of lower age predicted a higher risk of infection cognitions. Limitations: These findings only shed light on the initial response to the threat of a new, unknown pandemic in the Dutch population. Furthermore, the study did not measure the effect of determinants on harmful behaviors or cognitions. Conclusion: Individual differences play a vital role in the behavioral and cognitive response at the beginning of the pandemic. Tailored interventions can target men, low health anxiety, lower educated, low agreeable, more introverted persons to promote preventive measures and slow down the spreading of a virus.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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Research into Dutch substance-dependent youths who have committed crimes (age 16-22) is scarce, even though this population might benefit from more targeted treatment (e.g., addition of anger...Show moreResearch into Dutch substance-dependent youths who have committed crimes (age 16-22) is scarce, even though this population might benefit from more targeted treatment (e.g., addition of anger management to treatment for youths who have committed violent crimes) and is more likely to exhibit recidivism. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the relation between different types of drugs (alcohol, cannabis, and hard drugs) and different types of crime (violent, drug-related, and property). It was expected that (1) alcohol users were more likely to commit violent crimes than cannabis or hard drug users, (2) cannabis users were less likely to commit drug-related crimes than alcohol or hard drugs users, and (3) hard drug users were more likely to commit property crimes than alcohol or cannabis users. Gender, SES, education, polydrug use, and conduct disorder were also taken into account. All variables were assessed using a structured interview in a sample of 209 youths who came into treatment for SUD at different treatment centers across the Netherlands. The key finding of this study was that the majority of this sample had committed multiple types of crime and were using multiple types of drugs, which made confirmatory analyses impossible. Exploratory analyses indicated that cannabis users were more likely to commit drug-related crimes than non-cannabis users and that there was no specific type of drug that increased the likeliness that a youth would commit multiple crimes.Show less
Background: Trait Anxiety is related to maladaptive attentional bias (AB) towards threat, with vigilance towards mild threat and avoidance of high threat. In addition, research shows attentional...Show moreBackground: Trait Anxiety is related to maladaptive attentional bias (AB) towards threat, with vigilance towards mild threat and avoidance of high threat. In addition, research shows attentional control (AC) also moderates threat-related AB, counteracting the moderating role of anxiety. Angelidis, Hagenaars, van Son, van der Does, and Putman (2018) and Van Son, Angelidis, Hagenaars, van der Does, and Putman (2018) conducted dot-probe studies testing AB towards different threat stimuli on healthy participants and observed partially incongruent results. Research objective: This project aimed at firstly testing the moderating roles of trait anxiety and AC on AB towards different threat stimuli individually and secondly testing the moderating role interactively. Methods: 52 healthy students completed a self-report trait-anxiety and AC questionnaire. Additionally, AB was tested by letting the participants complete a dot-probe task with neutral, mild, and high threat level stimuli. Results: The moderating roles of trait anxiety and AC could only be partially confirmed with trait anxiety moderating vigilance towards mild threat and AC moderating vigilance towards high threat. However, trait anxiety and AC did not interactively moderate ABs to different threat levels. Discussion and conclusion: Individual differences in AC along with stimulus threat level importantly moderate anxious AB and need to be considered in future studies.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
closed access
Introduction: The default mode network (DMN) is a large intrinsic network in the brain, which seems to be affected in depressed patients. Also, aberrant heart rate variability (HRV) is often found...Show moreIntroduction: The default mode network (DMN) is a large intrinsic network in the brain, which seems to be affected in depressed patients. Also, aberrant heart rate variability (HRV) is often found in this population. Ketamine is thought to be a fast-acting antidepressant and has shown to have an effect on HRV and intrinsic brain connectivity. In this study, the effect of HRV on resting-state functional connectivity of the DMN and brain activity of areas within the DMN that were significantly correlated with HRV was examined. Also, it was investigated whether ketamine moderated this relationship. Method: Twelve healthy men received an intravenous ketamine or placebo infusion on two occasions. Resting-state functional connectivity and HRV were measured before, during, and after infusion. Dual-regression was used to obtain DMN connectivity scores, while a whole brain analysis was done to determine which brain areas were correlated with HRV. Raw digitized electrocardiogram (EKG), obtained with a pulse oximeter, was analyzed in order to extract HRV data. Multilevel analysis was used to determine the effect of HRV and ketamine on resting-state functional connectivity in the DMN and brain activity in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC), right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), and the left postcentral gyrus. Results: DMN connectivity strength was negatively related to HRV, but positively related to activity of the right dlPFC and the left postcentral gyrus for the placebo condition. Ketamine was associated with a more profound effect of HRV on DMN connectivity and brain activity within the postcentral gyrus. Discussion: The present results complement recent studies that show that HRV is associated with connectivity strength in the DMN. Implications for the relevance of using ketamine in depressed patients are discussed. Initial increases of DMN connectivity are followed by a decrease in the DMN, which may be beneficial for depressed patients who generally show hyperconnectivity within the DMN. Results thus imply that ketamine has a moderating role in this.Show less
BACKGROUND: Exposure therapy, which is based on extinction learning, is the therapy of choice for several anxiety disorders. However, the remission rate is not optimal for adults with an anxiety...Show moreBACKGROUND: Exposure therapy, which is based on extinction learning, is the therapy of choice for several anxiety disorders. However, the remission rate is not optimal for adults with an anxiety disorder, which could be due to non-response or to the return of the original fear after exposure therapy. Persons with high levels of anxiety have more difficulties constructing and consolidating extinction memories. Stimulating the vagus nerve (tVNS) is a promising method of enhancing the process of extinction learning as shown in previous animal and human studies. AIM: The aim of this study was to assess whether participants with high levels of anxiety would benefit more from the addition of tVNS measured in US expectancy ratings and skin conductance response. METHOD: This paper is a reanalysis of the data from the study of Burger et al. (2018). In this study healthy humans participated in a prepared fear learning paradigm, spider pictures were used as conditioned stimulus. After the acquisition phase participants were randomly allocated to the tVNS condition (N=42) and to the sham condition (N=43) for the extinction phase. High- and low-scoring groups were created based on the state and trait subscales of the STAI. RESULTS: There were no differences found between the high- and low-scoring groups in the effectiveness of tVNS, although the low state group in the tVNS condition showed lower US expectancy ratings for the CS- trials. CONCLUSION: This distinct study does not provide conclusive evidence to support the direction of studying tVNS in a clinical sample.Show less
