Reduced concreteness of worry in generalized anxiety disorder: Findings from a therapy study

A sample of clients diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) provided descriptions of the two major problems they worried about and of potential negative consequences associated with these problems, once before and once after they received cognitive-behavioral therapy. When descriptions were rated for concreteness and compared to those of normal controls, results showed that untreated GAD clients provided less concrete descriptions of their major worries relative to controls. After successful therapy, problem descriptions of GAD clients showed the same level of concreteness as those of controls. These findings add further support to the reduced-concreteness theory of worry. Moreover, they indicate that concretization of worries may play a prominent role in the reduction of pathological worry.