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Distress Tolerance: Theory, Measurement, and Relations to Psychopathology
Open accessAbstract
In this article we present the theoretical and empirical bases of distress tolerance research. Although distress tolerance offers a promising lens through which to better understand various psychological symptoms and disorders, further theoretical development and empirical inquiry is needed to promote our understanding of the construct. Overall, a number of questions regarding its theoretical conceptualization and measurement, associations with related constructs and psychopathology, and role(s) in therapeutic change and intervention remain unanswered. Directions for future research are discussed to stimulate further empirical study on this theoretically and clinically promising topic.
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“DT is important in the etiopathology of mental diseases, and it could be one of the factors that should be improved in psychotherapy and that it determines the response to treatment 17 .”
From Could distress tolerance levels be associated with the severity of chronic spontaneous urticaria? (2022) · cites this paper as [17]
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“If someone is especially averse to experiencing negative thoughts and feelings (i.e., someone low in distress tolerance or high in experiential avoidance [74,75]), that person would likely report greater challenges with being mindful in the presence of negative emotions.”
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“and lower levels of distress tolerance [75]”
From Being in the moment so you can keep moving forward: Mindfulness and rumination mediate the relationship between attachment orientations and negative conflict styles (2020) · cites this paper as [75]
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Citations
Cites
The Distress Tolerance Scale: Development and Validation of a Self-Report Measure
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Self-citationTolerance of ambiguity: A review of the concept, its measurement and applications
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Self-citation
Research works printed but not linked: 3
- Lynch T.R., Distress tolerance
- Trafton J.A., Distress tolerance
- Zvolensky M.J., Distress tolerance, 10.1177/0963721410388642
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“DT was measured using the Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS), a 16-item self-report measure (Simons & Gaher, 2005).”
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“It is conceptualized as a higher order construct that encompasses related concepts such as distress intolerance, frustration intolerance, and anxiety sensitivity (Allan et al., 2015; Bardeen et al., 2013; Zvolensky et al., 2010).”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Zvolensky, M. J., Vujanovic, A. A., Bernstein, A., & Leyro, T.
- Affiliations
- University of Vermont (US)
- Boston University (US)
- University of Haifa (IL)
- Corresponding author
- Zvolensky, Michael J.
- Venue
- Current Directions in Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2010-12
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 406-410
- ISSN
- 0963-7214 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8721
- PMC
- PMC7978414
- OpenAlex
- W2144595430
- Cited by
- 357
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2026: 33 · 2025: 32 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 26 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 14.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Current Directions in Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
- National Institutes of Health (5r01da027533-04)
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH076629)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01-DA027533, F31DA024919)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Resilience and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
- Keywords
- distress tolerance, psychological distress, psychopathology, therapeutic change, psychological intervention, theoretical conceptualization
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