A comparative study on Intolerance of Uncertainty, Emotion Regulation, and Cognitive Avoidance in Patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Healthy People

Introduction: Generalized anxiety disorder is one of the most common anxiety disorders that cognitive and emotional components have an important role in its developing and persistence. So, the aim of this study was to comparing intolerance of uncertainty, emotion regulation (cognitive reappraisal, suppression), and cognitive avoidance in patients with generalized anxiety disorder and healthy individual. Method: Present study was an applied research in terms of its purpose and post-event (causal-comparative) in terms of its implementation. A total of 30 patients with GAD were selected by convenience sampling method and were matched with 30 normal subjects by the variables of age and gender. The Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS), Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), and Cognitive Avoidance Questionnaires (CAQ) were used to data collection. Data were analyzed by Multivariate Analysis of Variance. Results: Findings showed there is significant difference between the group of patients with general anxiety disorder and normal people in intolerance of uncertainty (F=91.82, P˂0.0001), cognitive reappraisal (F=51.22, P˂0.0001), suppression (F=80.54, P˂0.0001), and cognitive avoidance (F=58.27, P˂0.0001). Conclusion: Considering that these components have a significant role in general anxiety disorder, could be more focused on this component on the treatment of this disorder. This finding have potential implications for mental health practitioners who are involved in mental health area that have been addressed.