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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Are the dysfunctional beliefs that predict worry different from those that predict obsessions?

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Chronic worry present in Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and obsessions characteristic of the Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are cognitive phenomena that share some features, but they also differ on others. Based on current cognitive approaches, dysfunctional meta-cognitive beliefs underlie the development and/or maintenance of both GAD and OCD. However, to date, there has been little empirical evidence about the differences between the beliefs that predict the occurrence of obsessions and those that predict worry. This study focuses on the search for these differences and examines to what extent worry and obsessions are associated with a similar or different pattern of dysfunctional cognitive contents. One hundred and seventy-five community subjects completed measures of worry and obsessional intrusive thoughts, as well as questionnaires assessing obsession-related and worry-related meta-cognitive beliefs. Results showed that beliefs about uncontrollability and danger, as well as cognitive self-consciousness, play a central role in predicting worry, whereas the beliefs concerning the importance of thoughts and Thought–Action Fusion probability are relevant in accounting for the frequency of obsessive intrusive thoughts. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.