Moderators of the effects of anger awareness and expression training and relaxation training to improve chronic headache symptoms

MODERATORS OF THE EFFECTS OF ANGER AWARENESS AND EXPRESSIONTRAINING AND RELAXATION TRAINING TO IMPROVE CHORNIC HEADACHESYMPTOMSbyELYSE R. SKLARAugust 2012Advisor: Dr. Mark A. LumleyMajor: Psychology (Clinical)Degree: Master of ArtsChronic headache (HA), a common condition among young adults, is exacerbated bystress. Arousal reducing techniques, such as relaxation training (RT), are moderately effective asstress-management techniques. Suppression of negative emotions, such as anger, has also beenshown to worsen stress and pain. Previously, our laboratory found that an innovative 3-session,group-based anger awareness and expression training (AAET) intervention was comparable togroup relaxation training (RT) in improving outcomes in HA, and both treatments were morebeneficial than no intervention. However, it is likely that individuals respond differently to theseinterventions. A person’s baseline emotion regulation abilities, assertiveness, and ambivalenceover emotional expression likely influence their response to these interventions. Therefore,secondary analyses were conducted to explore how alexithymia and it’s facets (difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, and externally oriented thinking),ambivalence over anger expression, and assertiveness, moderated the effects of AAET, RT, compared with each other and no intervention.