title: DEFICITS IN DISENGAGING ATTENTION FROM THREAT PREDICT IMPROVED RESPONSE TO COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY FOR ANXIETY.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pretreatment biases in attending toward threat have been shown to predict greater symptom reduction following cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety. Findings to date do not extend to clinical severity of diagnoses and they assess treatment response immediately posttreatment and not at follow-up. Research in this area has also not examined components of vigilance (e.g., engagement, disengagement) or whether these effects are confined to external attention and not attention to internal symptoms of anxiety.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the present investigation, 96 adults with a range of anxiety disorders completed a dot probe task to assess threat-related attention biases before and after 12 sessions of CBT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Pretreatment deficits in disengaging attention from external and internal threats, and not the speed of engagement with threat, predicted reductions in clinical severity of diagnoses that were maintained 2 years later. The presence of posttreatment attention biases was not associated with increased clinical severity after treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pretreatment deficits in disengaging attention from threat may promote better and more durable response to CBT for a range anxiety disorders.
authors.affiliation: Centre of Learning Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Tom J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Barry
authors.affiliation: UCLA Anxiety Disorders Research Centre, Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Amy R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Sewart
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado.
authors.forename: Joanna J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Arch
authors.affiliation: UCLA Anxiety Disorders Research Centre, Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Michelle G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Craske
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: anxiety; attention; behavior therapy; cognitive behavioral therapy; phobias