University health counseling center[/caption]Editor----“We have long suspected that stress can impair our ability to control our emotions, but this is the first study to document how even mild stress can undercut therapies designed to keep our emotions in check,” said Elizabeth Phelps, a professor in NYU’s Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science and the study’s senior author. “In other words, what you learn in the clinic may not be as relevant in the real world when you’re stressed.”
Some may think some mild stress might be okay and have little effect on the emotions, but that's not what researchers have found, as Dr. Phelps maintains. They have determined from their studies that even mild stress can interfere with emotions.
The information is being presented in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that point to the limits of clinical techniques while examining the barriers that must be overcome when providing therapy for fear or anxiety.
Cognitive therapy is one of the interventions therapists use with their clients to help them reshape their thinking and the way the client looks at problems. The therapy is designed to help the client change his or her emotional response. But the research has found that the therapy might include focusing on positive or non-threatening aspects of an event or stimulus that might commonly bring about a fear reaction.
Researchers set out to determine whether these cognitive therapies as used ordinarily work and whether or not they are able to combat minor issues and diminish fears.
It was found, however, that those experiencing minor stress did less well in how they responded to tests that included pictures of snakes or spiders and then deal with fear. Research found cognitive techniques did not produce a reduction in fear in those presented with minor stress.
“The use of cognitive techniques to control fear has previously been shown to rely on regions of the prefrontal cortex that are known to be functionally impaired by mild stress,” Phelps observed. “These findings are consistent with the suggestion that the effect of mild stress on the prefrontal cortex may result in a diminished ability to use previously learned techniques to control fear.”
“Our results suggest that even mild stress, such as that encountered in daily life, may impair the ability to use cognitive techniques known to control fear and anxiety,” added Candace Raio, a doctoral student in NYU’s Department of Psychology and the study’s lead author. “However, with practice or after longer intervals of cognitive training, these strategies may become more habitual and less sensitive to the effects of stress.”
The study’s other co-authors included: Temidayo Orederu, an undergraduate at Hunter College; Laura Palazzolo, a medical student at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine; and Ashley Shurick, a doctoral student at Stanford University.