Examining the Influence of Transdiagnostic Serial Mediators on Anxiety and Depression Using a Stress Recovery Task

Abstract

In the fall of 2013, we began designing a study to test the impact of two hypothesized transdiagnostic mechanisms (repetitive negative thinking and mood recovery) on the relationship between attentional control and symptom severity. We used a modified Trier Social Stress Task to measure mood recovery and a serial mediation model to statistically examine our hypotheses. The following sections will discuss our methods for choosing the stressor task, the challenges and decisions that we faced when selecting and implementing the task, and our methods for quantifying stress response. We will also describe the serial mediation model that we used to estimate the relationship between attentional control, repetitive negative thinking, mood recovery, and change in symptom severity.

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