The hypothesis of a distinctive content pattern of worry in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) was investigated with the use of content categorization of GAD versus nonanxious control worries from both clinical and analogue samples. The GAD groups reported significantly more worry topics than the control groups. Some similarity in content patterns emerged across groups, with the most frequent content category for all groups involving family/interpersonal issues. However, a significant difference in the pattern of relative frequencies across groups was found: GAD was characterized by equally high relative frequencies for miscellaneous and work/school worries, whereas control groups had higher relative frequencies for work/school concerns and lower relative frequencies for miscellaneous worries. The miscellaneous worries of GAD individuals were particularly characterized by worry about minor/routine issues. These findings support DSM-IV descriptions of GAD as involving pervasive worry that includes worry about minor things.
The hallmark of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is chronic uncontrollable worry. A preattentive bias toward threat cues and hypervigilance may support this ongoing state of apprehension. A study was conducted to bridge the attentional and physiological underpinnings of GAD by examining phasic heart period (HP) responses to cued threat and nonthreat stimuli. Thirty-three GAD clients and 33 nonanxious control participants engaged in an S1-S2 procedure that employed cued threat and nonthreat word stimuli, during which phasic HP reactions were recorded. As compared with the control group, the GAD group showed (1) smaller cardiac orienting responses and impaired habituation of cardiac orienting to neutral words, (2) HR acceleration in response to threat words, and (3) a conditioned anticipatory HR deceleration to threat words over repeated trials. The cardiac-autonomic underpinnings of GAD appear to rigidly maintain precognitive defensive responses against threat. This portrayal is discussed in the context of an integrative model that depicts diminished global adaptive variability in GAD.
The hallmark of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is chronic uncontrollable worry. A preattentive bias toward threat cues and hypervigilance may support this ongoing state of apprehension. A study was conducted to bridge the attentional and physiological underpinnings of GAD by examining phasic heart period (HP) responses to cued threat and nonthreat stimuli. Thirty-three GAD clients and 33 nonanxious control participants engaged in an S1-S2 procedure that employed cued threat and nonthreat word stimuli, during which phasic HP reactions were recorded. As compared with the control group, the GAD group showed (1) smaller cardiac orienting responses and impaired habituation of cardiac orienting to neutral words, (2) HR acceleration in response to threat words, and (3) a conditioned anticipatory HR deceleration to threat words over repeated trials. The cardiac-autonomic underpinnings of GAD appear to rigidly maintain precognitive defensive responses against threat. This portrayal is discussed in the context of an integrative model that depicts diminished global adaptive variability in GAD.
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