Distress Tolerance and Pathological Worry: Tests of Incremental and Prospective Relationships
Section snippets
Participants
The sample in this study consisted of 34 adult outpatients receiving psychological services at the Florida State University (FSU) Anxiety and Behavioral Health Clinic (ABHC) and 37 adults sampled from the community. The GAD group consisted of individuals with a diagnosis of GAD determined by a structured diagnostic interview, whereas the control group was made up of individuals who had no diagnoses. Exclusionary criteria at the clinic are minimal: the individuals are only referred elsewhere if
Participants
Participants were recruited through introductory psychology courses at a large southeastern university and completed this study as partial fulfillment of course requirements. All participants provided written informed consent. Of the 102 subjects initially recruited, 87 completed the Time 1 and Time 2 assessments.
The sample was 75.9% female and ranged in age from 18 to 35 years (M = 19.46, SD = 2.62). The sample consisted of the following ethnic groups: Caucasian (66.7%), African-American (9.2%),
Discussion
The results of the present studies were largely consistent with hypotheses. In Study 1, observed results supported hypotheses 1 and 2 such that lower DT was related to a GAD diagnosis and pathological worry symptoms, consistent with prior findings in nonclinical and clinical samples (Allan et al., 2014, Keough et al., 2010). These data represent an extension of prior work by demonstrating the association independent of the extent of comorbidity and depressive symptoms, suggesting that low DT is
Conflict of Interest Statement
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.
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2020, Behavior TherapyCitation Excerpt :Another, not mutually exclusive possibility is that low perceived DT is a pathoplastic factor in that it causally influences the expression of distress-misery disorders over time (Klein et al., 2009). In support of a pathoplastic interpretation, prior research has found that low perceived DT predicted greater maintenance/increases in worry symptoms 1 month later (Macatee et al., 2015), and increases in perceived DT as a consequence of treatment predicted subsequent decreases in posttraumatic stress symptoms (Boffa et al., 2018). It is also possible that perceived DT functions as a preexisting vulnerability for some distress-misery disorders (or some individuals), but functions as a scar or pathoplastic factor in others.
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2018, Psychiatry ResearchCitation Excerpt :As explicitly noted by Hasking et al. (2017a) further research regarding the relationship between affect intensity and NSSI is required. Transdiagnostic in nature, distress tolerance has drawn the attention of many clinicians and researchers as it contributes to the development and maintenance of several psychological disorders (Laposa et al., 2015; Macatee et al., 2015; Williams et al., 2013). Of particular relevance, low distress tolerance is known to be a key mechanism underlying dysregulated behaviours such as substance use (Brown et al., 2005), disordered eating (Anestis et al., 2007) and NSSI (Brown et al., 2002).
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