Looking on the bright side: accessing benign meanings reduces worry

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Anxiety Disorders Research

Background:

• Excessive worry is a core feature of anxiety disorders, often maintained by biased interpretation of ambiguous events.
• Current interventions may not sufficiently address the cognitive mechanisms underlying worry persistence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if training individuals to access benign interpretations of ambiguous stimuli reduces excessive worry.
• To examine the impact of this cognitive training on working memory capacity during worry.

Main Methods:

• Participants with high worry levels were randomized to either a benign interpretation training group or a control group.
• Intervention involved practicing benign meanings of threat-related homographs and ambiguous scenarios.
• Outcomes assessed via a breathing focus task measuring thought intrusions and anxiety, and a working memory capacity test.

Main Results:

• The benign interpretation group reported significantly fewer negative thought intrusions compared to the control group.
• Participants in the benign group experienced less anxiety during the breathing focus task.
• Greater residual working memory capacity was observed in the benign group while worrying.

Conclusions:

• Enhancing access to benign outcomes is an effective strategy for reducing the persistence of excessive worry.
• This cognitive approach mitigates the detrimental effects of worry on cognitive functions like working memory.
• Findings support the development of novel cognitive interventions for anxiety disorders.