Don’t Worry and Beware of White Bears: Thought Suppression in Anxiety Patients

The ability to suppress unwanted thoughts was investigated in patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD; n = 29), Speech Phobics ( n = 25), and nonanxious controls ( n = 28). All participants spent 5 minutes thinking aloud about anything that came to mind while trying not to think of white bea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of anxiety disorders 1998, Vol.12 (1), p.39-55
Main Authors: Becker, Eni S., Rinck, Mike, Roth, Walton T., Margraf, Jürgen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Anxiety Disorders - diagnosis
Anxiety Disorders - psychology
Behavior therapy. Cognitive therapy
Biological and medical sciences
Confusion - diagnosis
Confusion - psychology
Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted
Emotions
Female
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Personality Inventory
Phobic Disorders - diagnosis
Phobic Disorders - psychology
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Stress, Psychological - diagnosis
Stress, Psychological - psychology
Thinking
Treatments
Verbal Behavior
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Summary:The ability to suppress unwanted thoughts was investigated in patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD; n = 29), Speech Phobics ( n = 25), and nonanxious controls ( n = 28). All participants spent 5 minutes thinking aloud about anything that came to mind while trying not to think of white bears. In another task, they thought aloud for 5 minutes while trying not to think of their main worry. Intrusions of unwanted thoughts were signaled by button presses and recorded on tape. In accordance with the disorder’s definition and complaints of the GAD patients, they showed more intrusions of their main worry than of white bears. The opposite was true for other participants. Compared to a baseline measure, all participant groups were unable to reduce duration of main worry thoughts when trying to suppress them.
ISSN:0887-6185
1873-7897
DOI:10.1016/S0887-6185(97)00048-0