Metacognitive Beliefs and Strategies of Control Thought in GAD and OCD

Abstract

In the present paper the relevance that cognitive control processes may have in anxiety disorders such as GAD and OCD is assumed. It is pretended to identify the metacognitive beliefs deriving from S-REF model by Wells and Mathews (1996; Wells, 2000) specially in GAD and TOC, and explore the effect that those beliefs may have when using cognitive control strategies. A sample of 75 participants, 24 of them diagnosed with GAD or TOC and 51 of them without mental disorders, were assessed through MCQ-30 and TCQ. ANOVA analysis found that subjects with anxiety disorders obtained higher scores in beliefs about the dangerousness of not controlling their worries than subjects, without mental disorders. Regression analysis found that this kind of beliefs led to the use of desadaptative cognitive control strategies, such as the self-punishment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved). (journal abstract)