The Relation between Anxiety, Automatic Thoughts Adjustment and Emotional Control
Journal Title: Journal of Experiential Psychotherapy - Year 2018, Vol 21, Issue 4
Abstract
Introduction: Iancu et al. (2015) conducted a study on the relation between positive and negative thoughts and social anxiety. They underlined the fact that people suffering from social anxiety experienced the environment as threatening and dangerous. Mustafaraj (2015) guided a research on the importance of automatic thoughts upon generalised anxiety. The results indicated that, after interpreting the role-playing games, patients were able to assess themselves and to change dysfunctional thoughts, emotions and behaviours. Objectives: The objective of this research is to highlight the relation between anxiety (its perceived level), automatic thoughts adjustment and emotional control. Methods: Three psychometric instruments were used for evaluation, namely, Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (Taylor, 1953), Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire – ATQ (Hollon and Kendall, 1980), State Emotion-Regulation Questionnaire (Kashdan and Steger, 2006), which were applied to a number of 25 people (31-60 years old, 19 women and 6 men), participants in the personal development groups. The questionnaires were filled in between 14:00 and 20:00, a timeframe when a personal development group or another course did not take place. The dependent variables were: emotion suppression, cognitive reappraisal, desire for change, negative self-concepts and negative expectations, low self-esteem, helplessness, and perceived anxiety. Results: The research hypotheses (the assumption that there is a statistically significant correlation between the level of perceived anxiety and automatic thoughts adjustment, between the level of perceived anxiety and emotional control, and respectively, between automatic thoughts adjustment and emotional control) were partially confirmed to a threshold of significance p<0.05. Conclusions: Hypothesis confirmation has the support of literature approaching the relationship between variables: emotion suppression, cognitive reappraisal, desire for change, negative self-concepts and negative expectations, low self-esteem, helplessness, and perceived anxiety. Research findings represent starting points for further research on regulating negative emotions through automatic thoughts and anxiety.
Authors and Affiliations
Teodor Vasile
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP540950
- DOI -
- Views 66
- Downloads 0
Erich Fromm – a Therapeutic Vision Well Ahead of its Time. Erich Fromm’s Contribution to Experiential Psychotherapy
Introduction: Erich Fromm (1900-1980) was a German psychoanalyst, his work focused on several areas of human knowledge: social psychology, Psychoanalysis, sociology, humanist philosophy, ethics etc. Fromm used the “here...
Gift and Duty Configurations Within the Family Environment
Introduction: In the present article we aimed to explore, identify and represent the problematic present experiences relating to the gift and duty phenomenon within the family context. Furthermore, our focus on the psych...
A Developmental View of the Personal Psychological Journey
Introduction: This paper offers a staged view of individual psychological development based on the research of Clare W. Graves and the theory popularly known as Spiral Dynamics Integral. Objectives: To describe each of t...
Effects of Mindfulness Techniques on Oncological Adolescent Patients – a Qualitative Psychological Study
Introduction: Studies show that mindfulness meditation can deeply and constantly change the structure and operation of the brain and fosters the improvement of mental processes related to emotional adjustment strategies,...
Effectiveness of Treatment of Veterans with PTSD: a Critical Review
Introduction: PTSD impacts physiological, neurological, biochemical and epigenetic systems and is experienced largely unconsciously. Measures of treatment effectiveness vary widely but correspond to whether the modality...