Ina Leeuw | Maastricht University (original) (raw)

Papers by Ina Leeuw

Summary--The current study examined the role of thought suppression i spider phobia. Spider phobi... more Summary--The current study examined the role of thought suppression i spider phobia. Spider phobic (n = 41) and non-phobic (n = 40) subjects were asked to monitor their thoughts for three 5 min periods. During the first period, all subjects were instructed to "think about anything". During the sec-ond period, half of the subjects received suppression instructions (i.e., subjects were explicitly asked "not to think of spiders"), whereas the other half once again received instructions to "think about any-thing". During the third period, all subjects were instructed to "think about anything". Spider-related thoughts were monitored on-line. Also, subjects retrospectively estimated the amount of time they had spent thinking about spiders. Overall, spider phobics reported higher levels of spider-related thoughts than non-phobic subjects. Furthermore, phobic subjects tried harder to suppress pider-related thoughts than non-phobic subjects. Finally, a...

Journal of Psychophysiology, 1999

The present study was carried out to test Öhman's (1994) hypothesis that a pre-attentive anal... more The present study was carried out to test Öhman's (1994) hypothesis that a pre-attentive analysis of phobic stimuli is sufficient for a fear response to occur. Spider phobic (n = 47) and nonphobic (n = 41) subjects were exposed to phobic slides (spiders) and nonphobic slides (flowers, mushrooms, and snakes) that were presented for 30 ms, 20 ms, or 15 ms. Slides were backwardly masked for 100 ms. This technique was used to prevent conscious identification. During each trial, SCRs were measured. Following each trial, subjects indicated what they had seen (forced choice awareness check). Awareness check data revealed that only 15 ms stimuli remained genuinely subliminal. No convincing evidence was found to suggest that masked spider pictures elicit stronger SCRs in spider phobics than neutral control pictures. All in all, the present data fail to provide straightforward support for the idea that subliminal phobic cues elicit differential autonomic reactions in phobics.

Tijdschrift voor Psychotherapie, 2014

A. ARNTZ is hoogleraar klinische psychologie en experimentele psychopathologie bij het Department... more A. ARNTZ is hoogleraar klinische psychologie en experimentele psychopathologie bij het Department of Clinical Psychological Science van Maastricht University en psychotherapeut bij het RIAGG Maastricht. I. LEEUW is psychotherapeut bij het RIAGG Maastricht. M. HUIBERS is hoogleraar klinische psychologie en experimentele psychotherapie bij het

Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 2013

Schema therapy (ST) is an integrative treatment approach to chronic lifelong problems with an est... more Schema therapy (ST) is an integrative treatment approach to chronic lifelong problems with an established effectiveness for treating personality disorders. This article describes the adaptation of ST to chronic depression by reviewing the literature on the underlying risk factors to chronic depression. A model of chronic depression is presented, describing the interplay between empirically supported risk factors to chronic depression (early adversity, cognitive factors, personality pathology, interpersonal factors). We provide a treatment protocol of ST for chronic depression describing techniques that can be used in ST to target these underlying risk factors. Based on the current body of empirical evidence for the underlying risk factors to chronic depression, ST appears to be a promising new treatment approach to chronic depression, as it directly targets these underlying risk factors.

Behaviour Research and Therapy, 1997

Summary--The current study examined the role of thought suppression in spider phobia. Spider phob... more Summary--The current study examined the role of thought suppression in spider phobia. Spider phobic (n = 41) and non-phobic (n = 40) subjects were asked to monitor their thoughts for three 5 min periods. During the first period, all subjects were instructed to "think about anything". During the second period, half of the subjects received suppression instructions (i.e., subjects were explicitly asked "not to think of spiders"), whereas the other half once again received instructions to "think about anything". During the third period, all subjects were instructed to "think about anything". Spider-related thoughts were monitored on-line. Also, subjects retrospectively estimated the amount of time they had spent thinking about spiders. Overall, spider phobics reported higher levels of spider-related thoughts than non-phobic subjects. Furthermore, phobic subjects tried harder to suppress spider-related thoughts than non-phobic subjects. Finally, a...

Behaviour Research and Therapy, Oct 31, 2001

Recent studies have generated mixed findings regarding the effects of distraction on exposure-bas... more Recent studies have generated mixed findings regarding the effects of distraction on exposure-based treatments. Results have also been inconsistent regarding the effects of monitoring and blunting coping styles on outcome. The present study attempted to integrate these two areas of research. We hypothesized that the effect of distraction on treatment outcome might depend on coping style. Specifically, we predicted that for blunters (i.e., individuals who tend to avoid threat-related information), distraction would interfere with the effects of exposure. However, we predicted that distraction might benefit monitors (i.e., individuals who tend to seek out threat-related information). Sixty individuals with a specific phobia of spiders underwent a single, two-hour session of exposure treatment. During the first hour, half of the participants were distracted by listening to an audiotape and the other half underwent exposure without distraction. In the second hour, all participants underwent focused exposure. Based on measures of heart rate, subjective fear, and behavioral testing, participants improved after one hour of treatment, and improved further during the second hour. However, neither distraction, coping style, nor their interaction had a significant effect on outcome. The present study provides support for the benefits of behavioral treatment for specific phobias. However, our hypotheses regarding distraction and coping style were not confirmed.

Int J Neurosci, 1995

The present study tested the hypothesis that briefly flashed and backwardly masked phobic stimuli... more The present study tested the hypothesis that briefly flashed and backwardly masked phobic stimuli potentiate startle reflexes in phobic subjects. Spider phobic (n = 17) and normal control (n = 12) subjects were exposed to short (30 ms) and backwardly masked presentations of phobic slides (i.e., spiders) and neutral slides (i.e., flowers, mushrooms, snakes). On half the trials, eyeblink startle reflexes were elicited with auditory probes following presentation of the slides. In spite of the degraded stimulus conditions, there were some indications that phobics exhibited a startle pattern different from control subjects. More specifically, phobic subjects tended to react with larger startles during the second block of spider trials than control subjects. No such group differences were found for the neutral trials. As the eyeblink startle reflex is closely linked to the thalamo-amygdala pathway, the present findings provide some preliminary support for the idea that the preattentive processing of phobic cues is located at the subcortical level.