A Meta-Analytic Review of the Relationship Between Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Emotional Dysregulation

Danica Vukić; Doc. dr sc. med. Teodora Safiye

doi:10.5937/afmnai42-49309

Danica Vukić Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš, Niš, Serbia
Doc. dr sc. med. Teodora Safiye University of Kragujevac, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Kragujevac, Serbia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5937/afmnai42-49309

Keywords: emotional regulation, generalized anxiety disorder, meta-analysis

Abstract

This meta-analytic study was conducted with the aim of quantitatively integrating the findings obtained in individual studies that were concerned with determining the relationship between generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and emotional dysregulation in studies conducted on a non-clinical sample and adult population. The studies included in the meta-analysis are quantitative correlational studies in English, published in scientific journals in the last 20 years and whose methodological features correspond to the context of this analysis. The average weighted correlation, expressed by the Pearson correlation coefficient, is .497 and can be characterized as moderate. The obtained results are in line with the expectations and results of other researchers. The obtained results indicate a high heterogeneity and the study is discussed with suggestions for researchers in this field in the direction of continuing research on the relationship between the variables that are the subject of research. Empirical evidence testifies to the fact that problems of emotional regulation occur not only in persons with GAD, but also in panic disorder, social phobia and depression, which opens the door to the investigation of potential mediating relationships or covariates that influence the development of psychopathological symptomatology.

Author Biography

Danica Vukić, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš, Niš, Serbia

This meta-analytic study was conducted with the aim of quantitatively integrating the findings obtained in individual studies that were concerned with determining the relationship between generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and emotional dysregulation in studies conducted on a non-clinical sample and adult population. The studies included in the meta-analysis are quantitative correlational studies in English, published in scientific journals in the last 20 years and whose methodological features correspond to the context of this analysis. The average weighted correlation, expressed by the Pearson correlation coefficient, is .497 and can be characterized as moderate. The obtained results are in line with the expectations and results of other researchers. The obtained results indicate a high heterogeneity and the study is discussed with suggestions for researchers in this field in the direction of continuing research on the relationship between the variables that are the subject of research. Empirical evidence testifies to the fact that problems of emotional regulation occur not only in persons with GAD, but also in panic disorder, social phobia and depression, which opens the door to the investigation of potential mediating relationships or covariates that influence the development of psychopathological symptomatology.

References

1. A.P.A. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders.4th ed revised DSM IV-TR. American Psychiatric Association. Washington, DC; 2000.
2. Romer L, Orsillo SM. An acceptance-based behaviour therapy for generalized anxiety disorder. In: Orsillo SM, Romer L, editors. Acceptance and mind fulness- based approaches to anxiety. Conceptualization and treatment. New York: Springer; 2005; p. 213-40.
3. Menin DS. Emotion regulation therapy: An integrative approach to tretment- resistent anxiety dysorders. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy: On the Cutting Edge of Modern Developments in Psychotherapy 2006; 36: 95-105.
4. Mennin, DS, Heimberg RC, Turk CL, Fresco DM. Preliminary evidence for an emotion dysregulation model of generalized anxiety disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy 2005; 43: 1281-10.
5. McLaughin KA, Mennin, DS, Farach FJ. The contributory role of worry in emotion generation and dysregulation in generalized anxiety disorder. Behaviour Reserach and Therapy 2007; 45: 1735-52.
6. Decker ML, Turk Cl, Hess B, Murray CE. Emotion regulation among individuals classified without generalized anxiety disorder. Journal of Anxiety Disorders 2008; 22: 485-94.
7. Novick-Kline P, Turk CL, Mennin DS, Hoyt EA, Gallagher CL. Level of emotional awareness with and without generalized anxiety disorder. Journal of Anxiety Disorders 2005; 19: 557-72.
8. Romer L, Salters K, Raffa SD, Orsiloo SM. Fear and avoidance of internal experiences. In: GAD: Preliminary tests ofa conceptual models. Cognitive Therapy and Research 2005; 29: 71-88.
9. Roemer L, Lee JK, Salters-Pedneault K, Erisman SM, Orsillo SM, Mennin DS. Mindfulness and emotional regulation difficulties in generized anxiety disorder: preliminary evidence for independet and overlapping contributions. Behaviour Therapy, 2009; 40(2): 142-54.
10. Mihić L. Contemporary theories of psychopathology: anxiety disorders. Novi Sad: Faculty of philosophy; 2019. (in Serbian)
11. Overton RC. A comparisonffixed-effectsandmixed (random-effects) models of meta-analysis test of moderator variable effects. Psychological methods 1998; 3(3): 354.
12. Bornestein M, Hedges LV, Higgins JP, Rothstein HR. Indtroduction to meta-analysis. John Wiley & Sons; 2011.
13. Huedo-Medina T, Sanchez-Meca J, Marin-Martinez F, Botella, J. Assessing heterogeneitz in meta-analzsis: Q statisticor 12 index? CHIP Documents. Paper 19. 2006.
14. Tull MT, Stipelman BA, Salters-Pedneault K, Gratz KL. An examination of recent non-clinical panic attacks, panic disorder, anxiety sensitivity, and emotion regulation difficulties in the prediction of generalized anxiety disorder in an analogue sample. Journal of Anxiety Disorders 2009; 23(2): 275-82.
15. Ouellet C, Langlois F, Provencher MD, Gosselin P. Intolerance of uncertainty and difficulties in emotion regulation: Proposal for an integrative model of generalized anxiety disorder. Europian Review of Applied Psychology 2019; 69(1): 9-18.
16. Marganska A, Gallagher M, Miranda R. Adullt attachment, emotion dysregulation, and symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety disorder. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 2013; 83(1): 131-141.
17. Gratz KL, Roemer L. Multidimensional Assessment of Emotion Regulation and Dysregulation: Development, Factor Structure, and Initial Validation of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. Journal of Psychopatology and Behavioral Assesment 2004; 24: 41-54.
18. Soenke M, Hahn KS, Tull MT, Gratz KL. Exploring the relationship between childhood abuse and analogue generalized anxiety disorder: The mediating role of emotion dysregulation. Cognitive Therapy and Research 2010; 4(5): 401-12.
19. Neilsen SKK, Lonfeldt N, Wolitzky-Taylor KB, Hageman I, Vangklide S, Daniel SIF. Adult attachment style and anxiety- The mediating role of emotion regulation. Journal of Affective Disorders 2017; 218: 253-259.
20. Suveg C, Morelen D, Brewer GA, Thomassin K. The emotion dysregulation model of anxiety: a preliminary path analitic examination. Journal of Anxiety disorder, 2010; 24(8): 924-30.
21. Menin DS, Holaway RM, Fresco DM, Moore MT, Heimberg RG. Delineating components of emotion and its dysregulation in anxiety and mood psychopatology. Behaviour Therapy 2007; 38(3): 284-302.
22. Salters-Pedneault K, Roemer L, Tull MT, Rucker L, Mennin DS. Evidence of Broad Deficits in Emotion Regulation Associated with Chronic Worry and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Cognitive Therapy and Research 2006; 30(4): 469-80.