Thinking Healthfully PDF

Thinking Healthfully ? Can we think healthfully? Can we change unhealthy to healthy thinking ? Conscientiousness - what’s ‘in’ a word ? Conscientiousness - a dispositional tendency to be: industrious norm adhering planful thoughtfully inhibiting of impulses It has emerged as the Big Five personality...

Thinking Healthfully ? Can we think healthfully? Can we change unhealthy to healthy thinking ? Conscientiousness - what’s ‘in’ a word ? Conscientiousness - a dispositional tendency to be: industrious norm adhering planful thoughtfully inhibiting of impulses It has emerged as the Big Five personality trait most consistently associated with positive health & longevity [3,4]. 1. extraversion, 2. agreeableness, 3. openness, 4. conscientiousness, and 5. neuroticism O – Openness; Conscientiousness; Extraversion; Agreeableness; Neuroticism OCEAN – the mnemonic Conscientiousness - as supported by experimentation Conscientiousness influences health via socio-environmental factors, especially education & socioeconomic status. Strong negative associations between conscientiousness & mortality. Conscientiousness has important associations in models of healthy aging. The more conscientious the person, the less troubled the person when elderly. Is conscientiousness supported by telomere evidence? Childhood Conscientiousness and Leukocyte Telomere Length 40 Years Later in Adult Women - Edmonds et al., 2015 Population: Hawaii Longitudinal Personality & Health Study (HLPHS) began with teacher assessments of childhood personality (1959-67) when the children were a mean age of 10 yr. (Cohort Study) Elementary school teacher classroom assessments of children in Oahu/Kauai (n = 2,418). Schools were geographically dispersed & represented a wide range of socio-economic status (SES). More Population Details - 2418 HLPHS participants identified (& 2095 excluded) - Adult female only sample of 323 Highest conscientiousness-rated individuals were compared with the lowest conscientiousness-rated individuals Dried blood samples assayed (analyzed) for leukocyte telomere length (LTL) Discussion 1 The first study to demonstrate an association between a Big Five trait in childhood & LTL in adulthood. Findings suggest Conscientiousness in childhood predicts LTL 40 years later What implications are there for child and adolescent development? Discussion 1a The association remained significant when controlling for age & physical dysregulation But it was not significant when controlling for educational attainment, smoking, BMI, or physical activity While the correlation between conscientiousness & telomere length became non-significant, the degree to which the association reduced was small. Discussion 2 Results suggest a linking of dispositional traits in childhood with cumulative health, not previously assessed in telomere research Telomere-based Guide to Negative Thinking (Blackburn & Epel) The Most Unhealthy Thinking Types are: 4 Major Categories: Cynical Hostility: Bryden et al., (2012) Pessimism: O’Donovan et al. (2009); Ikeda et al. (2014) Rumination: Engert et al. (2014); Nolen - Hoeksema et al. (2000) Thought Suppression: Querstret et al., (2013) Conscientiousness – can we develop it? Conscientiousness: (our ‘training’ mentality) More industriousness More norm adherence More planful More thoughtful inhibition of impulses Cognitive Behaviour Therapy & Resilient Thinking TRA - LA – LA - LA (a mnemonic ‘memorization’ device) T - Thought Substitution R - Reframing A - Attentional Investment L - Lowering Anxiety A – Leveraging Attention LA - Learning Alliance Cognitive Behaviour Therapy & Resilient Thinking TRA - LA – LA - LA T - Thought substitution - judging one thought as ‘healthier’ than another such that active, mindful substitutions are undertaken Cognitive Behaviour Therapy & Resilient Thinking TRA - LA – LA - LA R - Reframing - No substituting of ‘thought’ but changing the ‘frame around the thought’ Instead of considering a circumstance as ‘purely bad’, the ability to see the ‘positive sides’ of the event Injuring event (pain, inconvenience, lowered capacity) was ‘awful’ What I learned (caution, recovery process, health appreciation, mindfulness) was ‘good’ Cognitive Behaviour Therapy & Resilient Thinking TRA - LA - LA A - Attentional Control - employing a ‘degree’ of control about where attention is directed & using it to direct attention deliberately Cognitive Behaviour Therapy & Resilient Thinking TRA - LA- LA L - Lowering Anxiety Cognitive Behaviour Therapy & Resilient Thinking TRA - LA – LA - LA A – Leveraging Attention - engaging one’s ‘training capacity’ to train for increased attentional control Cognitive Behaviour Therapy & Resilient Thinking TRA - LA – LA - LA L - Learning Alliance - forming relationships to develop more insightful, effective & positive thinking Purpose in Life Predicts Better Emotional Recovery, Schaefer et al. 2013 A test of whether purpose-in-life is associated with better emotional recovery following exposure to negative photograph stimuli as indicated by the magnitude of the eyeblink startle reflex (EBR), a measure sensitive to emotional state EBR- the orbicularis oculi muscle is emotionally-reactive, with activity potentiated by aversive stimuli & diminished by pleasing stimuli [27,28]. Orbicularis Oculi (OO) The OO is a ‘eyelid’ muscle which is a sphincter muscle arranged in concentric bands around the upper & lower eyelids - main function is to close the eyelids, which occurs with ‘O-O’ muscle contractions Temporal Resolution of EBR Just as facial muscles reflect affective states & emotional responses to stimuli, the temporal resolution of eyeblink startle responses (EBRs) serves to differentiate emotional responses & their regulation [26,29,30], Measurements provide objective estimates of the magnitude & time course of emotional responding during emotional challenges (evocative stimuli) Magnitude – How complete the emotional recovery is… Time course – How quick the emotional recovery is… Emotional reactivity is reflected in measurements during emotionally evocative photograph exposure & recovery after exposure ends Measuring the time course enables investigation of individual differences in reactivity & recovery Involuntarily Evocative ? IAPS Photos International Affective Picture System (IAPS) - a systematic photo collection that evokes positive, negative & neutral emotional reactions According to IAPS normative ratings: 30 negative, 30 neutral & 30 positive pictures were shown Positive & Negative pictures were matched on arousal evocation, luminosity, complexity & # of pictures with social content Slow recovery Faster recoveries Blunted reactivity & slower recovery Key Contrast ? Quick recovery from negative stimuli vs. delayed recovery is observed in depression & dysphoria [15,17,31]. Hypothesis: subjects who report higher levels of purpose-in-life will demonstrate greater emotional recovery from negative pictures, (controlling for initial reactivity) Adaptive regulation = quicker & more complete emotional recovery Greater emotional recovery is associated with higher purpose in life Discussion 1 Higher levels of purpose in life, predicted better recovery from negative stimuli as measured with eyeblink startle responses (EBRs) Subjects who reported greater life purpose exhibited reduced EBR magnitudes after picture removal Discussion 2 Better recovery after stimulus exposure by those with high life purpose reflects a healthier emotional profile. Neuroscientifically, the central role of the amygdala in fear potentiation (of startle responses) is hypothesized in emotionmodulated startles [40–42] Poor recovery from negative stimuli observed in depressed individuals who display sustained pupil dilation & amygdala activation to negative words [15–17]. Discussion 3 Greater purpose in life motivates one to constructively learn from & reappraise negative events adaptively - vs. engaging in rumination Quicker refocusing on goals, purposes & positively coherent cognitions Overview Values shift constantly & situationally - moment by moment Values follow health & survival imperatives We must ‘keep pace’ with ourselves about what we value Cognitions change in accord with what we value We can define healthy thinking….generically You can define healthy thinking...uniquely & specifically, independently & personally Cognitive Workout Review the most negative event. Describe your most negative thought (about the most negative event). This takes courage as we usually try to avoid the 'negatives' (although it’s impossible). During the event you likely felt sad, angry...or another negative emotion. You don't want to feel that way...but CBT helps you transform that feeling Was the thought... Was there...... catastrophizing? Yes? No? Was there... all or nothing thinking? Yes? No? Was there......... mind - reading ? Yes? No? Was there....magnification? minimization? Yes? No?... Was there…. negative focusing? Yes? No? Was there.... overgeneralizing? Yes? No? As soon as a thinking error is identified, creative-thought-change begins.. Old thought = is replaced by New thought