Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-7pwfn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T06:49:45.572Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Suppression of Dentist-Related Thoughts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2009

Ad de Jongh,
Peter Muris,
Harald Merckelbach and
Nelleke Schoenmakers
Ad de Jongh
Affiliation:
Academic Centre for Dentistry, Amsterdam
Harald Merckelbach
Affiliation:
University of Limburg
Nelleke Schoenmakers
Affiliation:
Academic Centre for Dentistry, Amsterdam
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The present study explored factors associated with the successful suppression of dentist-related thoughts. Fifty-eight subjects first completed questionnaires on dental anxiety, trait anxiety, cognitive self-efficacy, and negative cognitions related to dental treatment. After imagining a scene in which they were undergoing dental treatment, subjects were asked to identify the negative thoughts they had just experienced. Next, subjects were instructed to suppress these thoughts during a one minute period. After this suppression period, subjects rated the extent to which they had succeeded in suppressing their dentist-related thoughts (i.e., thought control) and the extent to which they had spent on thinking about these thoughts (i.e., intrusiveness). The results showed that dental anxiety was negatively correlated with successful thought suppression, while trait anxiety was negatively associated with intrusions during the suppression period. It is suggested that anxiety undermines adequate cognitive control.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , April 1996, pp. 117 - 126
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Becker, E., Roth, W. T. and Margraf, J. (1994). Don't worry and be aware of white bears. Thought suppression in anxiety patients. Unpublished manuscript. University of Dresden, Germany.Google Scholar
Clark, D. M., Ball, S. and Pape, D. (1991). An experimental investigation of thought suppression. Behaviour Research and Therapy 29, 253–257.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Conway, M., Howell, A. and Giannopoulos, C. (1991). Dysphoria and thought suppression. Cognitive Therapy and Research 15, 153–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corah, N. L. (1969). Development of a dental anxiety scale. Journal of Dental Research 48, 596.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corah, N. L., Gale, E. N. and Illig, S. J. (1978). Assessment of a dental anxiety scale. Journal of the American Dental Association 97, 816–819.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eysenck, M. W. (1992). Anxiety: the cognitive perspective. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
De Jongh, A., Muris, P., ter Horst, G., van Zuuren, F. J. and de Wit, C. (1994). Cognitive correlates of dental anxiety. Journal of Dental Research 73, 561–566.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Jongh, A., Muris, P., Schoenmakers, N. and ter Horst, G. (1995). Negative cognitions of dental phobics: reliability and validity of the Dental Cognitions Questionnaire. Behaviour Research and Therapy 33, 507–515.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ingram, R. E. and Kendall, P. C. (1987). The cognitive side of anxiety. Cognitive Therapy and Research 11, 523–536.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kent, G. and Gibbons, R. (1987). Self-efficacy and the control of anxious cognitions. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry 18, 33–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lavy, E. and Van den Hout, M. (1990). Thought suppression induces intrusions. Behavioural Psychotherapy 18, 251–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merckelbach, H., Muris, P., van den Hout, M. and de Jong, P. (1991). Rebound effects of thought suppression: instruction dependent? Behavioural Psychotherapy 19, 225–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muris, P., Merckelbach, H. and de Jong, P. (1993). Verbalisation and environmental cueing in thought suppression. Behaviour Research and Therapy 31, 609–612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Power, M. J. (1988). Cognitive failures, dysfunctional attitudes, and symptomatology. Cognition and Emotion 2, 133–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rachman, S. J. and de Silva, P. (1978). Abnormal and normal obsessions. Behaviour Research and Therapy 16, 233–238.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roemer, L. and Borkovec, T. D. (1994). Effects of suppressing thoughts about emotional material. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 103, 467–474.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salkovskis, P. M. and Campbell, P. (1994). Thought suppression induces intrusion in naturally occurring negative intrusive thoughts. Behaviour Research and Therapy 32, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salkovskis, P. M. and Harrison, J. (1984). Abnormal and normal obsessions: a replication. Behaviour Research and Therapy 22, 549–552.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salkovskis, P. M. and Kirk, J. W. (1989). Obsessional problems. In Hawton, K., Salkovskis, P. M., Kirk, J. W and Clark, D. M. (Eds). Cognitive-behavioural therapy for psychiatric problems: a practical guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Spielberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. L. and Lushene, R. E. (1970). Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.Google Scholar
Tallis, F. and Eysenck, M. W. (1994). Worry: mechanisms and modulating influences. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy 22, 37–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ter Horst, G. and de Wit, C. (1993). Review of behavioural research in dentistry 1987–1992: dental anxiety, dentist-patient relationship, compliance and dental attendance. International Dental Journal 43, 265–278.Google ScholarPubMed
Wegner, D. M. (1989). White bears and other unwanted thoughts. Suppression, obsession and the psychology of mental control. New York: Viking.Google Scholar
Wegner, D. M., Schneider, D. J., Carter, S. R. and White, T. L. (1987). Paradoxical effects of thought suppression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 53, 5–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wegner, D. M., Shortt, J. W., Blake, A. W. and Page, M. S. (1990). The suppression of exciting thoughts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 58, 409–418.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wells, A. and Davies, M. I. (1994). The thought control questionnaire: a measure of individual differences in the control of unwanted thoughts. Behaviour Research and Therapy 32, 871–878.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wells, A. and Matthews, G. (1994). Attention and emotion: a clinical perspective. Hove, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Wenzlaff, R. M., Wegner, D. M. and Roper, D. W. (1988). Depression and mental control: the resurgence of unwanted negative thoughts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 55, 882–892.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.