Emotional disclosure and cognitive processing in couples coping with head and neck cancer

Discussions were coded with the specific affect coding system. Actor –partner interdependence models showed that patient expression of negative emotions (i.e., disdain, contentiousness, distress) was not related to his/her own or the spouse’s cognitive processing (assessed as reaction times to cancer and noncancer words on a computerized cognitive task administer ed immediately following the discussion). When spouses expressed support (e.g., interest, validation), they had better cancer- (effect size r = − 0.21) and noncancer-related cognitive processing (r = − 0.17), but patients did not. However, when spouses expressed disdain (e.g., contem pt) and contentiousness (e.g., criticism, domineering), patients had poorer cancer- (r = 0.20–0.22) and noncancer-related cognitive processing (r = 0.19–0.26). Findings suggest consideration of the valence of affective expression and which partner is disclosing/listening before unilatera lly encouraging HNC couples to openly express emotions as a means of alleviating distress.
Source: Journal of Behavioral Medicine - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research