Worry: daily self-report in clinical and non-clinical populations
Abstract
The present study establishes an ecologically-valid point of reference for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) treatment outcome studies. Although worry is the main diagnostic criterion for GAD, it is also a common and everyday cognition. Few studies have investigated the normal manifestation of worry in a non-clinical population. For this research, time spent worrying and the tendency to worry were measured in a non-clinical sample (n = 36), where GAD was screened-out, and results were compared to those obtained from a GAD sample (n = 60). Participants recorded the time spent worrying in self-monitoring notebooks for two consecutive weeks and completed the French version of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ). It was found that the non-GAD group reported less time spent worrying on a daily basis as well as a lower tendency to worry than the GAD group. Results are discussed in terms of treatment implications.
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Distressing and maladaptive cognitive patterns are a major feature of many psychological disorders and are common in nonclinical populations.
“Distressing and maladaptive cognitive patterns are a major feature of many psychological disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) and are also common in nonclinical populations (e.g., Cash et al., 2004; Dupuy et al., 2001).”
From Effects of Cognitive Restructuring and Defusion for Coping with Difficult Thoughts in a Predominantly White Female College Student Sample (2022) · cites this paper as Dupuy et al., 2001
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- Authors
- Dupuy, J.-B., Beaudoin, S., Rhéaume, J., Ladouceur, R., & Dugas, M. J.
- Affiliations
- Université Laval (CA)
- Hôpital Hôtel-Dieu de Lévis (CA)
- Concordia University (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Dupuy, J.-B
- Venue
- Behaviour Research and Therapy
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2001-10
- Volume
- 39
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 1249-1255
- ISSN
- 0005-7967 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2090726506
- Cited by
- 64
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 1.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Behaviour Research and Therapy (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Assessments
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders
- Keywords
- worry, generalized anxiety disorder, non-clinical population, Penn State Worry Questionnaire, self-monitoring
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorders, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Personality Inventory, Psychometrics, Reference Values, Self-Assessment, Reproducibility of Results
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