Construcción de la identidad a partir de la cultura

1.9.1 Problem-solving in the worry process

Conceptualisations of worry suggest that worry serves a useful function in terms of problem-solving. For example, Borkovec et al. (1983) wrote that “[the] worry sequence seems to be initiated by a fear stimulus (environmental and/or imaginal) which elicits mental problem-solving activity designed to prevent the occurrence of traumatic future events and/or to devise coping strategies for such events” (p. 10). Furthermore, Mathews (1990) suggested that worry is deployed as a means of searching for ways to avoid aversive stimuli.

However, Mathews (1990) made the important distinction that it is the occasions when normal, adaptive problem-solving is unsuccessful that give rise to the mental processes labelled ‘worry’.

1.9.2 Worry as disrupted problem-solving

Davey et al. (1992) proposed that worrying may be an unsuccessful problem-solving strategy due to deficiencies in the problem-solving process. They suggest two potentially deficient aspects: (1) low PSC, and (2) adoption of coping strategies that focus on managing emotional reactions to the stress, rather than dealing with the cause. Davey et al. (1992) administered the PSWQ and the Personal Problem-Solving Inventory (Heppner & Petersen, 1982) and found that worry levels were significantly correlated with low PSC, and also with feelings of low personal control (over problems). However, when trait anxiety was partialled out, worry was no longer significantly associated with the negative aspects of low PSC and low personal control. Instead, with trait anxiety held constant, worry was positively correlated with problem-focused strategies of information seeking and active behavioural coping. In contrast, when worry was held constant, trait anxiety negatively correlated with PSC and perceived control. Given that Davey et al. (1992) found worriers have high levels of trait anxiety, the useful problem-focused strategies that the worrier deploys may be thwarted by the effects of their high levels of trait anxiety on their confidence that they have successfully solved the problem, preventing closure of the problem-solving process. The findings of Davey et al. (1992) support the notion that worrying is related to problem-solving, but it is not immediately apparent why, if worrying is related to positive components of problem-solving, trait anxiety is so highly associated with worrying. Davey et al. (1992) suggest that this is because individuals who are high worriers apply the problem-focused worry process to problems that cannot readily be solved. In situations where the individual has no control over the problem, such as receiving a diagnosis of a terminal illness, the problem-focused approach of information seeking may only confirm the individual’s view that the situation is threatening, and fail to provide solutions to deal with the forthcoming trauma.

Further evidence for the link between worry and problem-solving comes from Belzer, D'Zurilla and Maydeu-Olivares (2002). They found that social problem-solving accounted for variations in trait worry (PSWQ) and catastrophising (Catastrophic Worry Questionnaire). More specifically, three dimensions of social problem solving correlated with worry: (1) negative problem orientation; (2) rational problem solving; and (3) impulsivity/carelessness.

The idea that worrying is related to problem-solving is also apparent in the beliefs worriers hold about their worries. Davey et al. (1996) generated the Consequences of Worry Scale (COWS) by asking individuals the ways that worrying made things either worse or better and subjecting their ideas to content analysis. Two groups of participants completed either the negative consequences of worrying scale or the positive consequences of worrying scale. Factor analyses revealed that both the negative and positive beliefs about worry made reference to problem-solving. The negative consequences scale consisted of three factors, one of which was that worrying exaggerates the problem, and the positive consequences scale consisted of two factors, both related to problem-focused coping: (1) worry motivates; and (2) worry helps analytical thinking.

Szabó and Lovibond (2002) suggest that failure to bring problem-solving to a satisfactory conclusion is a mechanism of pathological worry. Solution selection (an index of the participant’s view of the success of the problem-solving process) was negatively correlated with trait worry proneness and frequency, and perceived uncontrollability of worry. The authors suggest that engagement in problem-solving is comparable across worry severity levels, but arriving at a satisfactory solution to problems is more difficult for chronic worriers. This difficulty may be because the solutions that chronic worriers generate are genuinely ineffective, or, as reported by Szabó and Lovibond (2002), it may be that their confidence in the solutions that they generate is undermined by IU and/or elevated evidence requirements. Szabó and Lovibond (2002) state “the data provide support for a conceptualization of worry as a thwarted problem solving process, falling on the continuum between a normal, constructive end associated with adaptive problem solving, and a pathological end associated with ineffective problem solving, and possibly, increased negative affect” (p. 176).

Davey and Levy (1998a) generated items for a questionnaire about catastrophising by asking students the following: “when you start to think about a stressful, traumatic or difficult situation that you are faced with (e.g., exams, illnesses, financial problems, problems with relationships, etc), does thinking about these problems sometimes make them feel worse than they were when you started thinking about them? If so, please list below the kinds of things that you say to yourself that make these problems seem worse.” (p.23). A factor analysis of responses from 331 students who completed the 45-item questionnaire indicated a four factor solution. Factor 1 (30.3% of variance), consisted of 11 items, which referred to

problem-specific pessimism and perceived negative effects of finding or failing to find a solution (e.g.” there just seems to be no solution to this problem”; “whatever I decide to do I will regret”). This factor is not simply related to PSC, but rather it relates to whether the individual thinks that the problem is not inherently controllable. Factors 2-4 related to personal inadequacy, despair/hopelessness, and further analysis of the problem. In the second study in their paper, Davey and Levy (1998a) examined whether these factors were associated with worry-related psychopathology. They found that the first three factors (problem-specific pessimism, personal inadequacy/incompetence, personal despair/ hopelessness) were significantly correlated with trait worry (PSWQ), anxiety (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, HADS), depression (HADS), PSC (PSI), and beliefs about the negative consequences of worrying (COWS). Factors 2-4 (personal inadequacy/incompetence, personal despair/hopelessness, need to analyse the problem) correlated with positive beliefs (COWS), indicating that personal inadequacy/incompetence and personal despair/ hopelessness paradoxically correlate with both positive and negative beliefs about worry.

Davey (1994) asked participants to complete the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS; Endler & Parker, 1990), which measures three coping strategies (task- oriented coping, emotional coping, and avoidance coping), the PSWQ, the Worry Domains Questionnaire (WDQ; Tallis, et al., 1992), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory – trait measure (Spielberger, 1983), Miller Behavioural Style Scale (MBSS; Miller, 1987), Problem-solving inventory (PSI; Heppner & Petersen, 1982), and the Means-Ends Problem-Solving Inventory (MEPS; Platt & Spivack, 1975). PSWQ and WDQ scores correlated significantly with trait anxiety, poor problem-solving and low perceived personal control over the problem-solving process. Effectiveness on the MEPS was not related to worry levels, suggesting that chronic worriers do not have objectively weaker problem-solving skills. The lack of an association between worry and problem-solving ability held at high and low levels of worry, and also when trait anxiety was controlled for.

Davey (1993a) explored different coping strategies for dealing with threats. Two of the coping strategies, threat devaluation and positive reappraisal, were found to relate to adaptive problem-focused strategies. The coping strategy of denial, conversely, was related to problem avoidance. Davey (1993a) found that denial was most common in situations where individuals felt their situation was uncontrollable or where individuals had low PSC.

Consequently, the low PSC that worriers experience is a risk factor for opting to avoid problems rather than engage in more adaptive problem-focused coping strategies.

An additional avenue of research relating to problem-solving and worry is the role that problem orientations play. Robichaud and Dugas (2005) define a negative problem- orientation as “a set of dysfunctional attitudes toward social problem-solving” (p.391). Possessing a negative problem orientation correlates worry, and Dugas et al. (1997) found that it was the emotional problem-orientation subscale (and not the cognitive or behavioural subscales) that predicted worry.

1.9.3 A causal role for poor problem-solving confidence in worry

Studies that have directly manipulated PSC and examined its effect on worry are scarce. Davey, Jubb and Cameron (1996) manipulated PSC by providing false feedback about performance on the Means-Ends Problem-Solving task (Platt & Spivack, 1975). Participants told that they had done badly showed a decrease in PSC and generated significantly more CI steps than participants in the group told that they had done well. Consequently, low PSC appears to play a causal role in worry perseveration.