A test of the core process account of psychopathology in a heterogenous clinical sample of anxiety and depression: A case of the blind men and the elephant?

Many cognitive and behavioral processes, such as selective attention to threat, self-focused attention, safety-seeking behaviors, worry and thought suppression, have their foundations in research on anxiety disorders. Yet, they are now known to be transdiagnostic, i.e. shared across a wide range of...

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Main Authors: Mansell, W., McEvoy, Peter
Format: Journal Article
Published: Pergamon 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24834
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author Mansell, W.
McEvoy, Peter
author_facet Mansell, W.
McEvoy, Peter
author_sort Mansell, W.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Many cognitive and behavioral processes, such as selective attention to threat, self-focused attention, safety-seeking behaviors, worry and thought suppression, have their foundations in research on anxiety disorders. Yet, they are now known to be transdiagnostic, i.e. shared across a wide range of psychological disorders. A more pertinent clinical and theoretical question is whether these processes are themselves distinct, or whether they reflect a shared 'core' process that maintains psychopathology. The current study utilized a treatment-seeking clinical adult sample of 313 individuals with a range of anxiety disorders and/or depression who had completed self-report measures of widely ranging processes: affect control, rumination, worry, escape/avoidance, and safety-seeking behaviors. We found that only the first factor extracted from a principal components analysis of the items of these measures was associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression. Our findings supported the 'core process' account that had its origins in the field of anxiety disorders, and we discuss the implications for theory, clinical practice and future research across psychological disorders.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-248342018-07-02T00:41:43Z A test of the core process account of psychopathology in a heterogenous clinical sample of anxiety and depression: A case of the blind men and the elephant? Mansell, W. McEvoy, Peter Many cognitive and behavioral processes, such as selective attention to threat, self-focused attention, safety-seeking behaviors, worry and thought suppression, have their foundations in research on anxiety disorders. Yet, they are now known to be transdiagnostic, i.e. shared across a wide range of psychological disorders. A more pertinent clinical and theoretical question is whether these processes are themselves distinct, or whether they reflect a shared 'core' process that maintains psychopathology. The current study utilized a treatment-seeking clinical adult sample of 313 individuals with a range of anxiety disorders and/or depression who had completed self-report measures of widely ranging processes: affect control, rumination, worry, escape/avoidance, and safety-seeking behaviors. We found that only the first factor extracted from a principal components analysis of the items of these measures was associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression. Our findings supported the 'core process' account that had its origins in the field of anxiety disorders, and we discuss the implications for theory, clinical practice and future research across psychological disorders. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24834 10.1016/j.janxdis.2016.06.008 Pergamon fulltext
spellingShingle Mansell, W.
McEvoy, Peter
A test of the core process account of psychopathology in a heterogenous clinical sample of anxiety and depression: A case of the blind men and the elephant?
title A test of the core process account of psychopathology in a heterogenous clinical sample of anxiety and depression: A case of the blind men and the elephant?
title_full A test of the core process account of psychopathology in a heterogenous clinical sample of anxiety and depression: A case of the blind men and the elephant?
title_fullStr A test of the core process account of psychopathology in a heterogenous clinical sample of anxiety and depression: A case of the blind men and the elephant?
title_full_unstemmed A test of the core process account of psychopathology in a heterogenous clinical sample of anxiety and depression: A case of the blind men and the elephant?
title_short A test of the core process account of psychopathology in a heterogenous clinical sample of anxiety and depression: A case of the blind men and the elephant?
title_sort test of the core process account of psychopathology in a heterogenous clinical sample of anxiety and depression: a case of the blind men and the elephant?
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24834