Cognitive distortions associated with generalized anxiety disorder

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Nora Arredondo Londoño
Cristina Álvarez Vargas
Piedad López Bustamante
Sara Posada Gómez

Abstract

Objective: To identify the cognitive distortions associated with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in working adults in the city of Medellín (Colombia). Method: Analytical cross-sectional studies. Sample: n = 147: 36 cases (with GAD indicators) and 111 controls (without GAD indicators). Instrument: GAD-Q IV Diagnostic Instrument: Generalized Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire (Newman, 2002), IPA Automatic Thoughts Inventory (Ruiz & Luján, 1991). Results: There were significant differences in all the cognitive distortions evaluated, except in polarized thinking and personalization. The discriminant function showed a function for the group With GAD, with a weight greater than 0.350 with the following order: You should, Justice Fallacy, Be right, Catastrophic vision, control fallacy, change fallacy, selective abstraction. Conclusions: The cognitive style in terms of information processing of people with GAD is characterized by their cognitive rigidity in the face of social expectations and the need for control and prediction of events: Must be, fair, be right and the catastrophic vision of danger.

Keywords:
Generalized anxiety disorder Cognitive Profile Distortions Cognitive

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