中華心理衛生協會

Worry is an intriguing mood state whose nature has just recently come under experimental scrutiny. Worry has been defined as a pathological feature that characterizes Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).Borkovec (1994) and Wells (1995, 1998) found that patients with pathological worry have some positive predictions to the outcome of worry. For example, they intend to use worry as a strategy of problem solving. In addition, Borkovec also found GAD patients have more positive predictions than general college students. However, we still don't know much about the importance between positive predictions and worry.In this study, we try to investigate the relation between positive predictions and the extent of worry. We infer there is a positive correlation between worry and positive prediction. We used the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) and Positive Prediction Scale (PPS) testing on 100 normal subjects and 22 patients with pathological worry. The result shows there is a significant positive correlation between the extent of worry and positive predictions. Therefore, our findings will help to clarify the role and importance of positive predictions in the worry process.