Avaliação funcional das respostas emocionais de pessoas diagnosticadas com transtorno de ansiedade

Abstract

The present study investigated the control exerted by antecedent and consequent events on the fear responses of three women diagnosed with anxiety disorder, and aged 45-74 years. To research these events was applied the process of functional assessment by using the strategies: (a) indirect functional assessment through interview (appointment), (b) direct functional assessment through direct observation, and (c) functional analysis or functional analysis methodology. The functional analysis consisted of the manipulation environmental events, especially in four principal conditions: attention, demand, alone and control. The attention condition was subdivided in (1) to contact-attention, (2) to worryattention, and (3) to establish-attention. The data obtained with the procedures adopted in the indirect assessment by interview, as well as that ones in direct observation of participants in the natural environment provided important subsidies to the experimental framework of functional analysis, and showed complementary to it. The functional analysis results demonstrated that the fear responses occurred with high frequency in attention and demand conditions, and didn't occur in alone and control conditions. However, one class of results, sensorial stimulation occurred in high frequency in alone condition. So, it was evident the control on fear responses by the sources positive and negative reinforcement, while the sensorial stimulations were controlled by automatic reinforcement. The date obtained make evident that the investigation by functional analysis methodology demonstrated the importance of fear responses control by using sources of positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and automatic reinforcement. The process of functional assessment applied in this study proved to be effective, once it was showed the control exerted by antecedent and consequent events on the fear responses and sensorial stimulation of the participants; than this way it is justified its application to evaluate the behavior of people diagnosed with anxiety disorder.