ºÚÁÏÍø

Abstract

In the last couple of decades evidence has gathered that individuals suffering from anxiety tend to interpret ambiguous information as threatening. Taking the causal role of this interpretative bias in anxiety, it has been confirmed that modifying these biases in clinical and non- clinical populations can influence anxiety symptoms and its future vulnerability. The study was designed to investigate the potential relationship between threat-related biases in anxiety and exercise. It examined whether exercise improved mood states and also if CBM measures proved to be successful in altering negative mood states in people with anxiety. Healthy adults in the age range of 18-60 years (mean age=29.11; S.D=6.9, men and women) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: exercise and positive Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM) training, exercise or a control condition (n=3Ã?Â?12). They attended a single session of exercise and a session of training on the same day. A two-tailed paired t-test was used to identify effectiveness of exercise on anxiety. Those in the exercise group were less state and trait anxious after completion of the experiment on a measure of State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), compared to both the controls and those in exercise and positive CBM condition. Additionally, no significant effects were observed on state anxiety in the exercise plus CBM group, though they were fewer-trait anxious after completion of the training. Some of the clinical potentials of exercise and positive cognitive bias modification in groups of healthy individuals were found. The mixed pattern of findings however renders them inconclusive, leaving interpretations of the potential therapeutic benefits of positive CBM training open for future research.

Biography

Email: mrinalinee.rana@gmail.com