2023-05-15 17:02:00
The “emotional contrast avoidance model” offers a potential mechanism underlying anxious thoughts, particularly in people with
(or generalized anxiety disorder).
He postulates that worry creates and maintains a negative affect which makes it possible to avoid, when adverse events occur, a strong increase in negative emotivity or a strong decrease in positive emotivity (i.e. negative emotional contrast).
According to this model, people with generalized anxiety would be more motivated to worry chronically because of a sensitivity to these contrasts. They would rather use worry to maintain negative affect than experience these contrasts. (What is generalized anxiety? Symptoms, diagnostic criteria)
The model also suggests that avoidance of negative contrasts reinforces worry, leading the person to be in a constant negative state and to feel vulnerable when in a sustained positive mood.
Researchers from the Department of Psychology at Pennsylvania State University, whose work was published in April 2023 in the Journal of Anxiety Disordersconducted a study to test this model.
Seung Yeon Baik and Michelle G Newman examined reactivity to negative events and sensitivity to negative emotional contrasts in 36 people with major depression and/or generalized anxiety and 27 people with no psychopathology. (What is major or clinical depression [légère, modérée ou sévère] ?)
For 8 days, they received 8 daily messages questioning them regarding their negative events, their emotions and their repetitive thoughts. They also completed various psychological tests.
In all three groups, greater worry or rumination before negative events was associated with less increases in anxiety and sadness and less decreases in joy following adverse events.
Compared to participants in the control group, those with major depression and/or generalized anxiety reported greater negative focus to avoid negative emotional contrasts and greater vulnerability to these contrasts when feeling positive.
The results support the validity of the model and show that it might apply not only to anxiety, but also to the intentional engagement in repetitive rumination thoughts that is characteristic of depression, the researchers conclude.
For more information on anxiety, see the links below.
Psychomedia with sources: Journal of Anxiety Disorders.
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