Hirsch Colette R, Perman Gemma, Hayes Sarra, Eagleson Claire, Mathews Andrew
Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience, King's College London.
Curtin University.
Clin Psychol Sci. 2015 Jul;3(4):637-647. doi: 10.1177/2167702615577349. Epub 2015 May 6.
Worry is characterized by streams of verbal thoughts about potential negative outcomes. Individuals with high levels of worry (and particularly those with generalized anxiety disorder) find it very difficult to control worry once it has started. What is not clear is the extent to which verbal negative thinking style maintains worry. Our study aimed to disentangle the effects of verbal versus imagery based thinking, and negative versus positive worry-related content on subsequent negative intrusive thoughts. High worriers were trained to engage in imagery or verbal processing, focusing on either negative or positive outcomes of their current main worry. Both thinking style and valence of worry content influenced later negative intrusive thoughts that play a role in initiating worry episodes. In contrast, only valence influenced subjective ratings of worry outcomes (i.e., cost, concern, and ability to cope, although not probability), with positive valence leading to lower ratings, irrespective of thinking style.
担忧的特点是脑海中不断浮现关于潜在负面结果的言语想法。担忧程度高的个体（尤其是患有广泛性焦虑症的人）一旦开始担忧，就会发现很难控制。目前尚不清楚言语消极思维方式在多大程度上维持着担忧。我们的研究旨在厘清基于言语与基于意象的思维，以及与担忧相关的消极与积极内容对后续消极侵入性思维的影响。高担忧者接受训练，进行意象或言语处理，专注于他们当前主要担忧的消极或积极结果。思维方式和担忧内容的效价都影响了后来在引发担忧发作中起作用的消极侵入性思维。相比之下，只有效价影响了对担忧结果的主观评分（即代价、担忧程度和应对能力，尽管不包括可能性），积极效价导致评分较低，无论思维方式如何。
