Elsevier

Journal of Anxiety Disorders

Volume 12, Issue 3, May–June 1998, Pages 253-261
Journal of Anxiety Disorders

Worry Themes in Primary GAD, Secondary GAD, and Other Anxiety Disorders

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0887-6185(98)00013-9Get rights and content

Abstract

This study examines worry themes among 87 anxiety disorder patients divided into three groups: (a) 24 primary generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) patients, (b) 25 secondary GAD patients, and (c) 38 other anxiety disorder patients (primarily obsessive-compulsive disorder, social phobia and panic disorder with agoraphobia). Structured and free-recall measures were used to measure five worry themes: relationships, work, finances, physical threat, and the future. Both types of measures revealed that GAD patients worry more about the future than non-GAD patients. Further, post hoc analyses testing for linear relationships indicated that primary GAD patients worry more about the future than secondary GAD patients who in turn worry more about the future than other anxiety disorder patients. The results suggest that although worry about immediate problems may not differentiate GAD patients from other anxiety disorder patients, high levels of worry about future events may be a distinguishing feature of GAD.

Section snippets

Subjects

The total sample consisted of 87 anxiety disorder patients. The subjects were divided into three groups. Group 1 (n = 24) consisted of 15 women and 8 men suffering from primary GAD (age: M = 37.7, SD = 11.9). Gender and age data were unavailable for 1 subject in Group 1. Group 2 (n = 25) was made up of 14 women and 11 men suffering from secondary GAD (age: M = 38.6, SD = 12.1). In Group 2, primary diagnoses were the following: panic disorder with or without agoraphobia (n = 11),

Analysis of Data From the Structured Measure (WDQ)

Five of the six WDQ subscales were retained for the analyses: Relationships, Aimless Future, Work Incompetence, Financial, and Physical Threat. The Lack of Confidence subscale was eliminated for conceptual and empirical reasons. Conceptually, the five items that describe worry about lack of confidence appear to overlap considerably with worry about relationships. For instance, items such as “I worry that I cannot be assertive or express my opinions,” “I worry that others will not approve of

Discussion

The first hypothesis, stating that specific worry themes would be more predominant among GAD patients than among non-GAD anxious patients, was supported as both the structured (WDQ) and free-recall (GAD-Q) measures revealed that GAD patients worry more about the future than non-GAD anxious patients. How can this finding be accounted for? In working with GAD patients, we have observed that they worry about two types of situations: (a) immediate problems (e.g., a difficult relationship), and (b)

Acknowledgements

The research described in this article was financially supported by grants from the Medical Research Council of Canada and the Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Québec.

References (23)

  • Borkovec, T. D. (1996). In J. H. Riskind (chairperson). New research on cognitive processes in anxiety: Theoretical and...
  • Cited by (76)

    • Does a novel training in mental imagery reduce pathological worry?

      2018, Behaviour Research and Therapy
      Citation Excerpt :

      In the fourth module, participants practiced deliberately creating mental images in a more self-paced way and with worry topics relevant in their daily lives. To nevertheless guarantee a standardized procedure for all participants, we designed ten short audiotaped scenarios (five positive and five negative in alternating order) covering typical worry domains of non-GAD worriers, such as health, finances, relationships and work/academic achievement (Craske, Rapee, Jackel, & Barlow, 1989; Dugas et al., 1998). For example, a positive scenario read as follows:

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text