Publication
Cognitive and emotional regulation in stress and obsessive-compulsive disorder
| Summary: | The current literature has gathered some evidence of impairments in cognitive regulation processes in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The inadequate self-regulation of obsessive thoughts leads to states of extreme distress and anxiety. To obtain relief from these negative states, obsessive-compulsive individuals perform rewarding repetitive behaviors. The augmented stress levels associated with OCD may also impact cognitive regulation. However, the neurobiological and behavioral deficits of cognitive regulation in this disorder require further clarification. This thesis provides novel insights into the mechanisms of cognitive regulation of emotion and reward in individuals suffering from OCD and stress. We conducted several experiments using psychometric variables, behavioral outcomes, and functional magnetic resonance imaging. Our findings demonstrated alterations in the activity and functional connectivity of prefronto-parietal brain regions during cognitive regulation tasks in OCD patients. Additionally, we observed deficits in the use of emotion regulation strategies and inflexibility during reward valuation. Moreover, we found that augmented stress levels modulate the interaction between emotion regulation deficits and OCD symptoms and impact reward valuation. Finally, we observed that neurofeedback, an emotion regulation-based treatment where participants self-regulate their brain activity in real-time, improves OCD and stress scores and reverses some of the frontoparietal alterations. The OCD deficits in cognitive regulation may arise from the importance attributed to control intrusive thoughts. These patients are excessively focused on internal states consequently lacking the cognitive flexibility to switch their attentional resources away from thoughts and negative emotional states. Moreover, increased stress levels may lead to an exacerbation of cognitive regulation impairments. Our conclusions support the inclusion of stress management in psychotherapy approaches to improve cognitive regulation skills. |
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| Main Authors: | Ferreira, Sónia Maria Gomes de Amaral |
| Subject: | cognition emotion neurofeedback OCD reward cognição emoção neurofeedback POC recompensa |
| Year: | 2021 |
| Country: | Portugal |
| Document type: | doctoral thesis |
| Access type: | open access |
| Associated institution: | Universidade do Minho |
| Language: | English |
| Origin: | RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho |
| Summary: | The current literature has gathered some evidence of impairments in cognitive regulation processes in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The inadequate self-regulation of obsessive thoughts leads to states of extreme distress and anxiety. To obtain relief from these negative states, obsessive-compulsive individuals perform rewarding repetitive behaviors. The augmented stress levels associated with OCD may also impact cognitive regulation. However, the neurobiological and behavioral deficits of cognitive regulation in this disorder require further clarification. This thesis provides novel insights into the mechanisms of cognitive regulation of emotion and reward in individuals suffering from OCD and stress. We conducted several experiments using psychometric variables, behavioral outcomes, and functional magnetic resonance imaging. Our findings demonstrated alterations in the activity and functional connectivity of prefronto-parietal brain regions during cognitive regulation tasks in OCD patients. Additionally, we observed deficits in the use of emotion regulation strategies and inflexibility during reward valuation. Moreover, we found that augmented stress levels modulate the interaction between emotion regulation deficits and OCD symptoms and impact reward valuation. Finally, we observed that neurofeedback, an emotion regulation-based treatment where participants self-regulate their brain activity in real-time, improves OCD and stress scores and reverses some of the frontoparietal alterations. The OCD deficits in cognitive regulation may arise from the importance attributed to control intrusive thoughts. These patients are excessively focused on internal states consequently lacking the cognitive flexibility to switch their attentional resources away from thoughts and negative emotional states. Moreover, increased stress levels may lead to an exacerbation of cognitive regulation impairments. Our conclusions support the inclusion of stress management in psychotherapy approaches to improve cognitive regulation skills. |
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