Exploring Affect Integration in Children With Anxiety Disorders: A Pilot Study

• Published in: Psychology of consciousness (Washington, D.C.) D.C.), 2016-12, Vol.3 (4), p.338-356
• Main Authors: Taarvig, Eva, Solbakken, Ole Andrè, Grova, Bjørg, Monsen, Jon T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anxiety Disorders; Consciousness States; Emotions; Female; Human; Male
• ISSN: 2326-5523; 2326-5531
• DOI: 10.1037/cns0000108

Affect integration is considered central to mental health. We define affect integration in terms of the affect consciousness construct as degrees of awareness, tolerance, nonverbal, and conceptual expression of 11 affects (Monsen, Eilertsen, Melgård, & Odegård, 1996). We assessed the construct using a child-adapted version of the semistructured Affect Consciousness Interview and separate scoring scales (Taarvig, Solbakken, Grova, & Monsen, 2015). We administered this interview to 8 children who met the criteria for an anxiety disorder to examine the following questions: (a) Which of a large number of specific affects recur as especially problematic? (b) In what ways do the children cope with the identified affects? To address these questions, we used a qualitative analyses method, based on the affect consciousness model. The anxious children exhibited problems in the way they experienced and coped with a larger number of affects compared with what previous studies on affect integration have reported. Affect couplings were found to be central to the problematic ways in which specific affects were experienced and coped with. Persistent couplings of affects conformed with theoretical perspectives on affect integration and with previous findings obtained in adults with an anxiety disorder, using the same method as applied in this study (Sønderland, 2010). It may be warranted to regard affect experience, particularly coupling of affects, as fundamental to understanding the continuity in anxiety disorders from childhood to adulthood. Our research may contribute to the development of more differentiated treatment models for anxious children.