• Anxiety and mood
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.47-53
• /
• 2015

Objective : Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a common anxiety disorder characterized by excessive worries and anxiety symptoms. To distinguish between pathological and normal worries, this study compared the contents and severity of worries among patients with GAD with those of matched non-psychiatric control Methods : Thirty outpatients with GAD receiving treatment at the psychiatric department of Hanyang University Guri Hospital were recruited. As a matched control group, we selected 30 adults without psychiatric history who participated in the Anxiety Disorder Survey, during the Mental Health Exposition held in Seoul in April, 2014. Matched demographic data were age, sex, education, and household income. Self-questionnaires included demographic data, contents of worry (10 categories of worries and each severity), and the Pennsylvania State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ). Results : There was no statistical difference in the contents of worry between patient and control groups. However, the total PSWQ scores significantly higher in the GAD group. Conclusion : Our findings suggest that patients and non-patients worry about the similar contents and worries in GAD cannot be differentiated by what people worry about. Only the severity of worry was a distinguishable feature. Our finding supported inclusion of the diagnostic criterion of "excesslve wornes" in GAD.

• Korean Journal of School Psychology
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.207-230
• /
• 2019

This study examined the effect of Attention Feedback Awareness and Control Training(A-FACT) on attention bias and generalized anxiety symptoms in college students. A total of 31 college students with at least 10 points on the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scale or at least 56 points on the Korean version of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (K-PSWQ) with attention bias were randomly assigned to one of three groups: A-FACT( n = 11), Attention Bias Modification (ABM)(n = 10) and Active Placebo Control (APC)(n = 10). Participants in A-FACT group received real-time feedback on attention bias based on their Baseline Neutral Response time(BNR) during A-FACT using a dot probe task. Participants in the ABM group received standard ABM, and those in the APC performed a dot probe task that they were informed was a program to reduce attention bias, but feedback was not provided. A total of eight sessions was conducted twice a week over a 4-week period. After every two sessions, GAD-7, K-PSWQ and K-STAI were rated. The effect of attention bias modification training was rated by changes in the Attention Bias Score(ABS), and in GAD-7, K-PSWQ and K-STAI scores. The results of repeated measure ANOVA indicated that the A-FACT group showed a significant decrease in ABS as well as in GAD-7, K-PSWQ and K-STAI scores compared to the other groups. Current results suggest that self-regulatory control of attention, that is, recognition of bias through feedback in A-FACT, may be effective in alleviating attention bias and generalized anxiety symptoms by recognizing bias through feedback on bias in attention bias modification training.