The relations among worry, meta-worry, intolerance of uncertainty and attentional bias for threat in men at high risk for generalized anxiety disorder: a network analysis

BMC Psychiatry

Yidi Wang¹  Qintao Zhang²  Lei Ren²  Zhujing Ma²  Zhongying Wu²  Qun Yang²  Long-Biao Cui²  Yinchuan Jin²  Zhou Yang³  Hua-Ning Wang⁴ 

[1] College of Education, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, USA;Department of Clinical Psychology, School of Medical Psychology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, China;Department of Economics, University of Washington, Seattle, USA;Department of Psychiatry, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, China;

关键词: Generalized anxiety disorder;    High risk;    Network analysis;    Attention bias;    Meta-worry;    Intolerance of uncertainty;    Worry;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12888-020-02849-w

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundImproving the psychotherapies for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is dependent on a deeper understanding of the relations between GAD and its associated cognitive factors. In the present study, we investigate how the core feature of GAD (i.e., worry) and its associated cognitive factors, such as meta-worry, intolerance of uncertainty, and attention bias towards threat, relate to each other in men at high risk for GAD.MethodsWe used network analysis to explore the relations among these variables in a cross-sectional sample of 122 men at high risk for generalized anxiety disorder. Specifically, we computed the expected influence and predictability of each variable.ResultsIn the final network, we found that worry and meta-worry had the highest expected influence and predictability. In contrast, attention bias towards threat showed the lowest expected influence and predictability. The estimates of the expected influence of the nodes were stable (correlation stability coefficient = 0.52).ConclusionsThe present study is the first to investigate the relations among worry, meta-worry, intolerance of uncertainty, and attention bias towards threat in men at high risk for generalized anxiety disorder. These findings indicate that worry and meta-worry may play important roles in the present network. The implications for clinical interventions and future studies are discussed.

【 授权许可】

CC BY