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Auditory sensitivity and anxiety1/14/2024 In the absence of research demonstrating the link between SPD and psychiatric symptoms, we also do not know why people with SPD may develop particular psychiatric problems. Put differently, the trajectory from childhood SPD symptoms to adulthood is poorly understood. As a result, it is unknown whether difficulties processing sensory stimuli early in life lead to a vulnerability in adulthood to mental health problems in general, or to more specific psychiatric disorders. Neither the long-term psychiatric sequelae of childhood sensory processing impairments are known, nor is it known what mechanisms would lead to such problems. Indeed, symptoms of SPD have been observed among individuals with a wide range of psychiatric problems (Hofmann and Bitran, 2007 Miller et al., 2009 Xiao et al., 2010 Javanbakht et al., 2011 Ahmari et al., 2012 Ferrão et al., 2012 Korostenskaja et al., 2013 Tumkaya et al., 2012 Jaafari et al., 2013). Children with SPD often suffer from debilitating social and emotional consequences of their impairments (Ben-Sasson et al., 2009), which may lead to other psychosocial problems. More recently, these problems have been recognized as SPD (Miller et al., 2012, 2009) and SPD include patterns of abnormal reactions to sensory input, such as heightened (“over-responsivity”) or reduced (“under-responsivity”) emotional, behavioral or psychological responses to sensory stimuli at normal intensities. Ayres ( 1966) was among the first to propose that some individuals suffered from problems with daily functioning due to sensory integration dysfunction, or atypical responses to sensory stimuli. Sensory processing disorder (SPD) is broadly characterized by chronic and significant impairments with the modulation and integration of sensory stimuli. Taken together, these findings provide preliminary evidence for how sensory processing impairments in childhood may relate to anxiety through difficulties regulating emotion regulation. Specifically, our data indicated that high symptoms of SPD in childhood may lead to high SPD symptoms in adulthood, which then lead to high emotion dysregulation, ultimately conferring vulnerability for an anxiety disorder diagnosis. Further, we found evidence for a candidate model accounting for the relationship among childhood SPD, adulthood SPD, difficulties with emotion regulation, and anxiety disorders in adulthood. Difficulties with emotion regulation fully mediated the relationship between childhood SPD and (a) any anxiety disorder in adulthood and, specifically (b) current generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Results suggested that childhood SPD symptoms were significantly associated with a higher likelihood of a lifetime anxiety disorder diagnosis. Participants were administered the Structured Clinical Interview for Axis-I disorders and self-reported symptoms of SPD experienced in childhood and adulthood. In a transdiagnostic clinical sample of 231 adults characterized by heightened difficulties with emotion regulation, the present study sought to examine whether: (a) childhood sensory processing disorder (SPD) symptoms predict an increased probability of an anxiety disorder diagnosis in adulthood and (b) difficulties with emotion regulation and adult SPD symptoms mediate this relationship. Although maladaptive sensory processing has been observed among individuals with persistent heightened anxiety, it is unclear if difficulties processing sensory input early in life lead to anxiety disorders in adulthood and what mechanisms would drive this progression.
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