Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T21:13:41.343Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Worry: Mechanisms and Modulating Influences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2009

Frank Tallis  and
Michael W. Eysenck
Frank Tallis
Affiliation:
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London
Michael W. Eysenck
Affiliation:
Royal Holloway, University of London
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A new model of worry is presented, differing from previous work in which worry was set within a broader theory of anxiety. It is proposed that threat is initially evaluated in terms of imminence, likelihood, and cost set against perceived self-efficacy; this evaluation can produce worry as a relatively automatic response. Worry serves the functions of alarm, prompt, and preparation; in terms of processes, it leads to an unfocused attentional style, sensitivity to emotional information, and arousal (which produces self-absorption). Threat (and worry) are maintained if there are elevated evidence requirements or inappropriate problem solving. The therapeutic implications of the model are discussed briefly.

Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , January 1994 , pp. 37 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1987), Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd Edition, revised). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Andrew, V.H. and Borkovec, T. D. (1988). The differential effects of inductions of worry, somatic anxiety, and depression on emotional experience. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental, Psychiatry 19, 21–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bandura, A. (1988). Self-efficacy conception of anxiety. Anxiety Research 1, 77–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bandura, A. (1989). Perceived self-efficacy in the exercise of personal agency. The Psychologist 2, 411–424.Google Scholar
Barlow, D.H. (1988). Anxiety and its Disorders. New York/London: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Borkovec, T.D. (1979). Pseudo (experimental)-insomnia and idiopathic (ojective) insomnia: theoretical and therapeutic issues. In Eysenck, H.J. and Rachman, S. (Eds). Advances in Behavior Research and Therapy. London: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Borkovec, T.D. (1985). Worry: a potentially valuable concept. Behaviour Research and Therapy 23, 481–482.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Borkovec, T.D. and Hu, S. (1990). The effect of worry on cardiovascular response to phobic imagery. Behaviour Research and Therapy 28, 69–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Borkovec, T.D., Metzger, R.L. and Pruzinsky, , (1986). Anxiety, worry, and the self. In Hartman, L. and Blankstein, K.R. (Eds). Perception of Self in Emotional Disorder and Psychotherapy. New York: Plenum Publishers.Google Scholar
Borkovec, T.D., Robinson, E., Pruzinsky, T. and DePree, J.a. (1983a). Preliminary exploration of worry: some characteristics and processes. Behaviour Research and Therapy 21, 9–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Borkovec, T.D., Wilkinson, L., Folensbee, R. and Lerman, C. (1983b). Stimulus control applications to the treatment of worry. Behaviour Research and Therapy 21, 247–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breznitz, S. (1967). Incubation of threat: duration of anticipation of false alarm as determinants of the fear reaction to an unavoidable frightening event. Journal of Experimental Research in Pesonality 2, 173–179.Google Scholar
Butler, G., Fennell, M., Robson, P. and Gelder, M. (1991). Comparison of behaviour therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 59, 167–175.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Butler, G. and Mathews, A. (1983). Cognitive processes in anxiety. Advances in Behavior Research and Therapy 11, 551–565.Google Scholar
Butler, G. and Mathews, A. (1987). Anticipatory anxiety and risk perception. Cognitive Therapy and Research 11, 551–565.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carver, C.S. and Scheier, M.F. (1988). A control-process perceptive on anxiety. Anxiety Research 1, 17–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, W.R., Johnson, M.C. and Borkovec, T.D. (1986). Worry: an electrocortical analysis. Advances in Behavior Research and Therapy 8, 193–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daniels, L.K. (1976). An extension of thought-stopping in the treatment of obsessional thinking. Behaviour Therapy 7, 131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deffenbacher, J.L. (1980). Worry and emotionality in test anxiety. In Sarason, I.G. (Ed). Text Anxiety: Theory, Research and Applications. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
D'Zurilla, T.J. and Goldfried, M.R. (1971). Problem solving and behaviour modification. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 78, 107–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Easterbrook, J.A. (1959). The effect of emotion on cue utilization and the organization of behaviour. Psychological Review 66, 183–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, S. and Dickerson, M. (1987). Intrusive unwanted thoughts: a two-stage model of control. The British Journal of Medical Psychology 60, 317–328.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eysenck, M.W. (1984). Anxiety and the worry process. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society 22, 545–548.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenigstein, A. and Carver, C.S. (1978). Self-focusing effects of heartbeat feedback. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 36, 1241–1250.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Foa, E.B. and Kozak, M.S. (1986). Emotional processing of fear: exposure to corrective information. Psychological Bulletin 99, 20–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Folensbee, R. (1984). Stimulus control vs relaxation-placebo in the treatment of chronic worry. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. The Pennsylvania State University.Google Scholar
Friedman, S.B., Ader, R. and Glasgow, L.A. (1965). Effects of psychological stress in adult mice inoculated with Coxsackie B Viruses. Psychosomatic Medicine 27, 361–368.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gray, J.A. (1982). The Neuropsychology of Anxiety. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gross, P.R. and Eifert, G.H. (1990). Components of generalized anxiety: the role of intrusive thoughts vs worry. Behaviour Research and Therapy 28, 421–428.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holmes, T.H. and Rahe, R.H. (1967). The social readjustment rating scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Research.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ingram, R.E. (1990). Self-focused attention in clinical disorders: review and a conceptual model. Psychological Bulletin 107, 156–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janis, I. (1958). Psychological Stress. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Johnston, D. W. and Martin, P.R. (1991). Psychophysiological contributions to behaviour therapy. In Martin, P.R. (Ed). Handbook of Behaviour Therapy and Psychological Science. Oxford: Pergamon.Google Scholar
Kent, G. (1987). Self-efficacious control over reported physiological, cognitive and behavioural symptoms of dental anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy 25, 341–347.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kent, G. and Gibbons, R. (1987). Self-efficacy and the control of anxious cognitions. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry 18, 33–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lader, H.H. (1980). Psychophysiological studies in anxiety. In Burrows, G.D. and Davies, D. (Eds). Handbook of Studies in Anxiety. Amsterdam: Elsevier/North Holland.Google Scholar
Lazarus, R.S. (1966). Psychological stress and the coping process. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Legg England, S. and Dickerson, M. (1988). Intrusive thoughts: unpleasantness not the major cause of uncontrollability. Behaviour Research and Therapy 26, 279–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacLeod, A.K., Williams, M.G. and Bekerian, D.A. (1991). Worry is reasonable: the role of explanations in pessimism about future personal events. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 100, 478–486.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacLeod, C., Mathews, A. and Tata, P. (1986). Attentional bias in emotional disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 95. 15–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacLeod, C. and Mathews, A. (1986). Discrimination of threat cues without awareness in anxiety states. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 95, 131–138.Google Scholar
Marks, I. (1978). Rehearsal relief of nightmares. British Journal of Psychiatry 133, 461–465.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, M., Williams, R. and Clark, D. (1988). Does anxiety lead to selective processing of threat-related information?Paper presented at the World Congress of Behaviour Therapy,Edinburgh, Scotland.Google Scholar
Marx, E. (1988). Problem solving therapy. In Watts, F.N. (Ed). New Development in Clinical Psychology, Vol. 2. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Mathews, A. (1990). Why worry? The cognitive function of anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy 28, 455–468.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mathews, A. and Klug, F. (1993). Emotionality and interference with colour naming in anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy 31, 57–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mathews, A. and Ridgeway, V. (1981). Personality and surgical recovery: a review. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 20, 243–260.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mathews, A., May, J., Mogg, K. and Eysenck, M. (1990). Attentional bias in anxiety: selective search or defective filtering? Journal of Abnormal Psychology 99, 166–173.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meichenhaum, D. (1988) Stress Inoculation Training. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Metzger, R.L., Miller, M., Sofka, M., Cohen, M. and Pennock, M. (1983). Information processing and worry.Paper presented at the Association for the Advancement of Behaviour Therapy.Washington, DC.,December.Google Scholar
Mikulciner, M., Kedem, P. and Paz, D. (1990). The impact of trait anxiety and situational stress on the categorization of natural objects. Anxiety Research 2, 85–101.Google Scholar
Miller, S.M. (1979). Controllability and human stress: method, evidence and theory. Behaviour Research and Therapy 17, 287–304.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mogg, K. and Marden, B. (1990). Processing of emotional information in anxious subjects. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 29, 227–229.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Monat, A. (1976). Temporal uncertainty, anticipation time, and cognitive coping under threat. Journal of Human Stress 2, 32–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nezu, A.M. (1986). Cognitive appraisal of problem-solving effectiveness: relation to depression and depressive symptoms. Journal of Clinical Psychology 42, 42–48.3.0.CO;2-2>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oatley, K. and Johnson-Laird, P.N. (1987). Towards a cognitive theory of emotion. Cognition and Emotion 1, 29–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paterson, R.J. and Neufeld, R.W.J. (1987). Clear danger: situational determinants of the appraisal of threat. Psychological Bulletin 2, 404–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pruzinsky, T. and Borkovec, T.D. (1990). Cognitive and personality characteristics of worriers. Behaviour Research and Therapy 28, 507–512.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rachman, S. (1980). Emotional processing. Behaviour Research and Therapy 18, 51–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seligman, M.E.P. (1968). Chronic fear produced by unpredictable electric shock. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 66, 402–411.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tallis, F. (1989). Worry: a cognitive analysis. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of London.Google Scholar
Tallis, F. (1991). Worry and obsessionality: a correlational analysis. Unpublished Masters dissertation. University of London.Google Scholar
Tallis, F., Eysenck, M.W. and Mathews, A. (1991). Elevated evidence requirements and worry. Personality and Individual Differences 12, 21–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tallis, F., Eysenck, M. and Robson, L. (in preparation). Worrying and sensitivity to emotional information.Google Scholar
Vogel, W., Raymond, S. and Lazarus, R.S. (1959). Intrinsic motivation and psychological stress. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 58, 225–233.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wegner, D.M. and Guiliano, T. (1980). Arousal-induced attention to the self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 38, 719–726.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, A. (1985). Relationship between private self-consciousness and anxiety scores in threatening situations. Psychological Reports 57, 1063–1066.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
York, , Borkovec, T.D., Vasey, M. and Stern, R. (1987). Effects of worry and somatic anxiety on negative thought intrusions, subjective emotion, and physiological activity. Behaviour Research and Therapy 25, 523–526.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zuckerman, M. and Lubin, B. (1965). Manual for the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist. San Diego, CA: EdITS.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.