Assessing Psychological Inflexibility Pertaining to Self in Patients With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Using an Indirect Measure of (Nonassociative) Propositions

Petrus G.j. Janssen; Ciara Mcenteggart; Dermot Barnes-holmes; Elisa Van Ee; Jos Egger

doi:10.1016/j.beth.2022.05.002

Assessing Psychological Inflexibility Pertaining to Self in Patients With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Using an Indirect Measure of (Nonassociative) Propositions

Petrus G.j. Janssen
, Ciara Mcenteggart
, Dermot Barnes-holmes
, Elisa Van Ee
, Jos Egger

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

83 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Relational frame theory (RFT) is a modern behavioral account of human language and cognition, which focuses on relations or propositions, rather than associations, as core explanatory constructs. In an attempt to measure such propositions, RFT researchers have developed the implicit relational assessment procedure (IRAP). It has been argued that the size of an IRAP effect may provide a metric for psychological inflexibility. The current study aimed to determine whether psychological inflexibility, as measured by the self-focused Natural Language-IRAP (NL-IRAP), would be higher in a clinical sample of individuals with a diagnosis of PTSD (N = 29) when compared to a nonclinical sample. Subsequently, the study investigated whether the self-focused NL-IRAP could be used to predict the presence of a clinical diagnosis, using a ROC analysis. As predicted, higher levels of psychological inflexibility were observed for the clinical group. The self-focused NL-IRAP also correctly classified the presence of PTSD (AUC = 76%) with a sensitivity level of 79.3% and a specificity level of 59.2%. Overall, the use of the IRAP as a nonassociative clinical measure appears promising.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1122-1132
Number of pages	11
Journal	Behavior Therapy
Volume	53
Issue number	6
Early online date	21 May 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2022.05.002
Publication status	Published (in print/issue) - 30 Nov 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was conducted with funding from the FWO. This work was supported by the Dutch Ministry of Defence.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies

Funding Information:
This research was conducted with funding from the FWO. This work was supported by the Dutch Ministry of Defence.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022

Funding Information:
This research was conducted with funding from the FWO. This work was supported by the Dutch Ministry of Defence.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022

Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Funding

Funding Information: This research was conducted with funding from the FWO. This work was supported by the Dutch Ministry of Defence. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Funding Information: This research was conducted with funding from the FWO. This work was supported by the Dutch Ministry of Defence. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Funding Information: This research was conducted with funding from the FWO. This work was supported by the Dutch Ministry of Defence. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

Relational frame theory
psychological inflexibility
propositional models
self
PTSD
relational frame theory
Language
Humans
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - diagnosis - psychology
Self-Assessment
Cognition
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/diagnosis

Access to Document

10.1016/j.beth.2022.05.002

Final Published VersionFinal published version, 685 KBLicence: CC BY

https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0005789422000661Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Assessing Psychological Inflexibility Pertaining to Self in Patients With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Using an Indirect Measure of (Nonassociative) Propositions",

abstract = "Relational frame theory (RFT) is a modern behavioral account of human language and cognition, which focuses on relations or propositions, rather than associations, as core explanatory constructs. In an attempt to measure such propositions, RFT researchers have developed the implicit relational assessment procedure (IRAP). It has been argued that the size of an IRAP effect may provide a metric for psychological inflexibility. The current study aimed to determine whether psychological inflexibility, as measured by the self-focused Natural Language-IRAP (NL-IRAP), would be higher in a clinical sample of individuals with a diagnosis of PTSD (N = 29) when compared to a nonclinical sample. Subsequently, the study investigated whether the self-focused NL-IRAP could be used to predict the presence of a clinical diagnosis, using a ROC analysis. As predicted, higher levels of psychological inflexibility were observed for the clinical group. The self-focused NL-IRAP also correctly classified the presence of PTSD (AUC = 76\%) with a sensitivity level of 79.3\% and a specificity level of 59.2\%. Overall, the use of the IRAP as a nonassociative clinical measure appears promising.",

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note = "Funding Information: This research was conducted with funding from the FWO. This work was supported by the Dutch Ministry of Defence. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Funding Information: This research was conducted with funding from the FWO. This work was supported by the Dutch Ministry of Defence. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 Funding Information: This research was conducted with funding from the FWO. This work was supported by the Dutch Ministry of Defence. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 Copyright {\textcopyright} 2022. Published by Elsevier Ltd.",

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AU - Barnes-holmes, Dermot

AU - Van Ee, Elisa

AU - Egger, Jos

N1 - Funding Information: This research was conducted with funding from the FWO. This work was supported by the Dutch Ministry of Defence. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Funding Information: This research was conducted with funding from the FWO. This work was supported by the Dutch Ministry of Defence. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Funding Information: This research was conducted with funding from the FWO. This work was supported by the Dutch Ministry of Defence. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

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Y1 - 2022/11/30

N2 - Relational frame theory (RFT) is a modern behavioral account of human language and cognition, which focuses on relations or propositions, rather than associations, as core explanatory constructs. In an attempt to measure such propositions, RFT researchers have developed the implicit relational assessment procedure (IRAP). It has been argued that the size of an IRAP effect may provide a metric for psychological inflexibility. The current study aimed to determine whether psychological inflexibility, as measured by the self-focused Natural Language-IRAP (NL-IRAP), would be higher in a clinical sample of individuals with a diagnosis of PTSD (N = 29) when compared to a nonclinical sample. Subsequently, the study investigated whether the self-focused NL-IRAP could be used to predict the presence of a clinical diagnosis, using a ROC analysis. As predicted, higher levels of psychological inflexibility were observed for the clinical group. The self-focused NL-IRAP also correctly classified the presence of PTSD (AUC = 76%) with a sensitivity level of 79.3% and a specificity level of 59.2%. Overall, the use of the IRAP as a nonassociative clinical measure appears promising.

AB - Relational frame theory (RFT) is a modern behavioral account of human language and cognition, which focuses on relations or propositions, rather than associations, as core explanatory constructs. In an attempt to measure such propositions, RFT researchers have developed the implicit relational assessment procedure (IRAP). It has been argued that the size of an IRAP effect may provide a metric for psychological inflexibility. The current study aimed to determine whether psychological inflexibility, as measured by the self-focused Natural Language-IRAP (NL-IRAP), would be higher in a clinical sample of individuals with a diagnosis of PTSD (N = 29) when compared to a nonclinical sample. Subsequently, the study investigated whether the self-focused NL-IRAP could be used to predict the presence of a clinical diagnosis, using a ROC analysis. As predicted, higher levels of psychological inflexibility were observed for the clinical group. The self-focused NL-IRAP also correctly classified the presence of PTSD (AUC = 76%) with a sensitivity level of 79.3% and a specificity level of 59.2%. Overall, the use of the IRAP as a nonassociative clinical measure appears promising.

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ER -

Assessing Psychological Inflexibility Pertaining to Self in Patients With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Using an Indirect Measure of (Nonassociative) Propositions

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

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