Internal statements associated with catastrophic worrying

This paper reports the results of two studies using a nonselected population to investigate the nature of the internal statements which are reported as characterising bouts of catastrophic worrying. Study 1 used a factor analysis procedure to identify four theoretically coherent sets of statements which related respectively to problem-specific pessimism, personal inadequacy/incompetence, personal despair/hopelessness and need to analyse the problem. Study 2 found that three of the four catastrophising strategies were significantly associated with measures of anxiety, depression and poor problem-solving confidence. Measures of beliefs in the positive effects of worrying predicted use of all four sets of statements independently of measures of anxiety, depression and poor problem-solving confidence. These findings are consistent with theoretical accounts of catastrophic worrying which allude to the role of poor problem-solving confidence and beliefs about personal inadequacy in exacerbating the catastrophising process and to the role of dysfunctional beliefs about the utility of worrying in generating and maintaining pathological worry.