title: Impact of childhood trauma, alexithymia, dissociation, and emotion suppression on emotional Stroop task.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Attentional bias to emotion- and illness-related information plays a prominent role in many mental disorders, particularly major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders. Using the emotional Stroop task we investigated which variables beyond aspects of patients' psychopathology might influence reaction times and interference in the Stroop test.
  
  
  METHODS
  We investigated 82 psychosomatic inpatients and 39 healthy controls. Diagnosis of depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, and somatoform disorders were established using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. Severity of depression, anxiety, somatic symptoms, as well as experiences of childhood trauma, alexithymia, dissociation and emotion suppression were assessed via questionnaires. The emotional Stroop test was performed by using neutral and negative words, words related to depression, anxiety and somatization, respectively, and individually chosen words, which were related to the main problems of the participants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In multivariate regression analyses, reaction times were best predicted by self-reported experiences of childhood trauma. Interference, by contrast, was predicted by emotion suppression, but only for negative words, anxiety-related words and individually relevant words. Against our hypothesis, measurements of psychopathology were not associated with Stroop performance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study provides further support for the idea that the experience of childhood trauma influences adult neuropsychological performance. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the ability to suppress emotions may be an important predictor of attentional bias.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf and Schön Klinik Hamburg-Eilbek, Hamburg, Germany. k.wingenfeld@uke.uni-hamburg.de
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wingenfeld
authors.forename: Kirsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Riedesel
authors.forename: Zorica
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Petrovic
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Philippsen
authors.forename: Björn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rose
authors.forename: Hans J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Grabe
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Barnow
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Löwe
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Spitzer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000523:psychology*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D057190:Stroop Test; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires