title: Emotional distress tolerance across anxiety disorders.
abstract: Emotional distress tolerance (EDT) has increasingly been recognized as a transdiagnostic vulnerability factor. However, research assessing EDT in anxiety disorder populations is lacking. The current study addressed this gap in the literature by examining EDT in a sample of outpatients with panic, social anxiety, generalized anxiety, or obsessive compulsive disorders (n=674), and by assessing its relationship to symptom severity and impairment. Results showed that poor EDT was common across diagnostic groups. However, correlation and regression analyses suggested that although EDT was associated with symptom severity and impairment, it did not account for unique variance in scores beyond the effect of negative affect, stress, intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and anxiety sensitivity (AS). IU and AS had a stronger relationship with overall symptom severity and impairment in the regression models. Together, findings suggest that although EDT may be transdiagnostic, IU and AS are more relevant to our understanding of anxiety disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada. Electronic address: nmichel@yorku.ca.
authors.forename: Natalie M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Michel
authors.affiliation: Anxiety Treatment and Research Clinic, St. Joseph's Healthcare, West 5th Campus, 100 West 5th Street, Hamilton, ON L8 N 3K7, Canada; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada. Electronic address: krowa@stjosham.on.ca.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rowa
authors.affiliation: Anxiety Treatment and Research Clinic, St. Joseph's Healthcare, West 5th Campus, 100 West 5th Street, Hamilton, ON L8 N 3K7, Canada. Electronic address: lyoung@stjosham.on.ca.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: Anxiety Treatment and Research Clinic, St. Joseph's Healthcare, West 5th Campus, 100 West 5th Street, Hamilton, ON L8 N 3K7, Canada; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada. Electronic address: rmccabe@stjosham.on.ca.
authors.forename: Randi E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: McCabe
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D035501:Uncertainty; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anxiety sensitivity; Distress tolerance; Intolerance of uncertainty; Transdiagnostic