The Role of Motivation in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy for Anxiety Disorders

Abstract

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is known to be efficacious for anxiety disorders, however the vast majority of suffering people does not receive adequate treatment. A recent study has reported that only 6 % of patients seeking treatment at an obsessive-compulsive disorder clinic had received CBT (Denys et al. 2002). Many reasons have been discussed to understand treatment underutilization as ambivalence about seeking treatment and catastrophic misinterpretation. Ambivalence in anxiety disorder can result from avoidant behavior component (Mcmanus et al. 2008; Starcevic et al. 2011), which is common characteristic to anxiety cognitive models. Whereas the impaired quality of life (Watson et al. 2011) may motivate anxiety-disordered patients to seek and follow treatment, the fear of anxiety usually discourage them to do so. This chapter aims to review the role of motivation in the process of CBT for anxiety disorders, considering the cultural and individual characteristics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)