BACKGROUND: People's reactions to traumatic events are mediated by their subjective style of coping. This is of particular importance for HIV+ patients, mainly in the first phases of the disease. This work aimed at examining whether an 'acceptance' style of coping, as opposed to a 'mental disengagement' style, selectively influences the first stages of the processing of neutral, emotional and HIV-related information. METHOD: Two groups of 11 HIV+ asymptomatic subjects were chosen according to their coping strategies, acceptance or mental disengagement, as measured by Coping Orientations to the Problems Experienced (COPE). Twenty-two patients completed the Emotional Stroop Task and an incidental memory recognition task containing neutral, emotional and HIV-related stimuli. RESULTS: Analysis of reaction times (RTs) on the Emotional Stroop Task showed that HIV+ subjects have longer RTs for emotional and HIV-related than for neutral words. Instead, no effect was found as regards interaction with style of coping. CONCLUSION: Results confirmed a processing bias of emotional information, whereas Acceptance and Mental disengagement strategies, as measured by the COPE scales, did not appear to influence information processing. Copyright 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel.
BACKGROUND:People's reactions to traumatic events are mediated by their subjective style of coping. This is of particular importance for HIV+ patients, mainly in the first phases of the disease. This work aimed at examining whether an 'acceptance' style of coping, as opposed to a 'mental disengagement' style, selectively influences the first stages of the processing of neutral, emotional and HIV-related information. METHOD: Two groups of 11 HIV+ asymptomatic subjects were chosen according to their coping strategies, acceptance or mental disengagement, as measured by Coping Orientations to the Problems Experienced (COPE). Twenty-two patients completed the Emotional Stroop Task and an incidental memory recognition task containing neutral, emotional and HIV-related stimuli. RESULTS: Analysis of reaction times (RTs) on the Emotional Stroop Task showed that HIV+ subjects have longer RTs for emotional and HIV-related than for neutral words. Instead, no effect was found as regards interaction with style of coping. CONCLUSION: Results confirmed a processing bias of emotional information, whereas Acceptance and Mental disengagement strategies, as measured by the COPE scales, did not appear to influence information processing. Copyright 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel.