Age Differences in Distress Following Intrusive Thoughts

项目摘要/摘要 侵扰性的想法是不愉快但熟悉的头脑访客。它们是一种常见的 老年人，但对侵扰性思维的经历和后果如何变化知之甚少 年龄。研究老年人的侵入性思维很重要，因为不受欢迎的精神活动无处不在， 因为侵扰性的思想是情绪失调的核心，会导致焦虑、抑郁和健康 与发病率和死亡率相关的问题。我们建议研究年龄差异对侵扰行为的反应 健康和焦虑的老年人的想法，以确定可以帮助我们的保护因素 了解保持情绪、身体和心理健康，以及可以帮助我们学习的风险因素 如何与那些与情绪困难作斗争的老年人进行干预。 在这项建议中，我们展示了一个模型来理解与年龄相关的差异在侵入性疾病复发中的作用 思想和随之而来的痛苦。我们将对老年人和年轻人进行一系列研究，使用 思想抑制范式，参与者将试图抑制他们的侵入性想法。这 范式可以可靠地引发侵入性思维，这将使我们能够评估复发中的年龄差异 以及试图控制这些想法，赋予这些想法的意义，以及 思绪激起忧伤。接下来，计划进行一系列操作，以检查潜在的机制 侵入性思维的年龄差异，如操纵分配给思维的含义和改变 可用的工作内存容量。我们将研究与年龄相关的保护性因素和风险因素，以进行管理 侵入性思维，以确定它们何时导致情绪失调，以及它们何时导致情绪失调 成功老化。最后，我们将测试模型的翻译潜力，包括简短的干预研究 与焦虑的老年人一起确定是否训练这些成年人赋予不那么具威胁性的意义 他们咄咄逼人的想法可以减轻他们的痛苦。我们还将评估侵入性思维和 对老年人日常功能造成的痛苦，检查诸如决策等关键领域。 最终，通过研究侵扰性思维和痛苦之间的联系，我们可以提高对 情绪和认知之间的相互作用及其与衰老的相互作用。

Project Summary/Abstract Intrusive thoughts are unpleasant but familiar visitors to the mind. They are a common occurrence for older adults, but little is known about how the experience and consequences of intrusive thoughts change with age. Studying intrusive thoughts in older adults is important because unwanted mental activity is so ubiquitous, and because intrusive thoughts are central to emotion dysregulation, producing anxiety, depression and health problems that are tied to morbidity and mortality. We propose to study age differences in response to intrusive thoughts among healthy and anxious older adults to determine both the protective factors that can help us understand preservation of emotional, physical and mental health, and the risk factors that can help us learn how to intervene with those older adults who are struggling with emotional difficulties. In this proposal, we lay out a model to understand age-related differences in the recurrence of intrusive thoughts and ensuing distress. We will conduct a series of studies with older and younger adults using a thought suppression paradigm where participants will attempt to suppress their intrusive thoughts. This paradigm reliably elicits intrusive thoughts, which will allow us to evaluate age differences in the recurrence and attempts made to control these thoughts, meanings assigned to the thoughts, and the degree to which the thoughts provoke distress. Next, a series of manipulations are planned to examine the mechanisms underlying age differences in intrusive thoughts, such as manipulating the meaning assigned to thoughts and altering available working memory capacity. We will examine both age-related protective and risk factors for managing intrusive thoughts to determine when they contribute to emotion dysregulation versus when they contribute to successful aging. Finally, we will test the translational potential of the model, including brief intervention studies with anxious older adults to determine whether training these adults to assign less threatening meanings to their intrusive thoughts can reduce their distress. We will also evaluate the impact of intrusive thoughts and consequent distress on daily functioning in older adults, examining critical domains such as decision making. Ultimately, by examining the link between intrusive thoughts and distress, we can improve understanding of the interplay between emotion and cognition and their interaction with aging.