Abstract

Objectives: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is characterized by excessive, predominant and ongoing worry and tension. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between anxious thoughts and metacognitive beliefs among patients with GAD. 

Method: For this study, 60 high school students (30 males and 30 females) were selected using cluster-random sampling. All of the subjects had generalized anxiety disorder according to DSM-IV criteria.  Subjects participated in the study by answering the Anxious Thought Inventory (ANTI) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale.  The data were analyzed through descriptive statistic methods and analysis of variance.

Results: The study showed that there are significant relationships between anxious thoughts (health, social, and meta worries) in girls and boys, and metacognitive beliefs about worry uncontrollability (p<0.05). The girls have considerably more positive metacognitive beliefs about worry compared to boys (p<0.001). The same is true in case of negative metacognitive beliefs (p<0.01). There are significant correlations between meta-worry and metacognitive beliefs about worry uncontrollability in girls and boys (p<0.05). Similar correlation exists between meta-worry and metacognitive beliefs about worry avoidance in both groups (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Positive and negative metacognitive beliefs can cause worry continuation. Gender differences in frequency of the meta-cognitive beliefs about worry is an explanation for higher rate of GAD among girls.