Cognitive bias in Generalised Anxiety Disorder and its relationship with the effect of SSRI treatment

Abstract

The literature review examines cognitive models of Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) with particular reference to those proposed by Beck, Emery & Greenberger (1986) and Bower (1981). More recent cognitive theories of anxiety, such as those proposed by Williams, Watts, MacLeod and Mathews (1988, 1997) and Mogg & Bradley (1998) are also reviewed. These latter models suggest that either anxious mood is elicited by vigilance for threat stimuli (Williams et al., 1988, 1997) or that anxious individuals evaluate stimuli as threatening (Mogg & Bradley, 1998). The predictions made by these studies are examined by considering relevant empirical findings. The role of treatment in removing cognitive bias is also examined, and conclusions concerning the nature of cognitive bias in GAD are drawn.

The empirical study contains two sections. The first section is a longitudinal study that examines whether the level of cognitive bias before treatment can be used as an index to predict the level of anxious mood following treatment with SSRI medication. This part of the study also examines whether medication alters cognitive bias. The results suggest that attentional bias is not a reliable predictor for the level of anxious mood following SSRI treatment, although a reduction in the level of interpretive bias was detected following SSRI treatment. The second part of the study, the cross-sectional part, examines whether there was a significant difference in the level of attentional and interpretive biases between the GAD group and a control group. The results suggest that there were significant differences in the level of interpretive bias between the two groups, but not in the level of attentional bias. These results are discussed and suggestions for further research are identified.

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