Explaining generalized anxiety disorder based on cognitive regulation strategies of emotion, poor understanding of emotions and thought-action combination

Abstract

Generalized anxiety disorder is influenced by different emotional and cognitive components. The purpose of this study was to simultaneously investigate the role of cognitive regulation strategies of emotion, poor understanding of emotions, and thought-action combination in patients suffering from generalized anxiety disorder. The correlational method of the study was used in this study and the sample included 120 patients suffering from generalized anxiety disorder selected among the patients of four psychiatric centers in the city of Shiraz through available Sampling. The Cognitive Regulation Strategies Of Emotion questionnaires (Garnefsky et al, 2001), Beck’s Anxiety (1988), Thoughts Combination Instrument (Wells et al, 2001) and Toronto’s 20 Alexithymia Scale (Begbi et al, 1994) were used to collect data. The results showed that there was a significant and positive relationship between the difficulty in identifying and describing emotions, non-adaptive/maladaptive emotions regulation strategies and thought-action combination with generalized anxiety disorder. Stepwise Regression Analysis indicated that the difficulty in identifying emotions, non-adaptive emotions regulation strategies and the difficulty in describing emotions are appropriate predictors for this disorder, respectively. In overall, with regard to the role of emotional deficits and thought-action combination in generalized anxiety disorder, the above variables should be considered in prevention and treatment programs of this disorder.