Treatment of GAD - Targeting intolerance of uncertainty in two types of worry

This study evaluates the efficacy of a cognitive-behavioral treatment for g eneralized anxiety disorder (GAD) that addresses two types of worries: (a) those about situations that are amenable to problem solving, and (b) those about situations that are not. The treatment's goal is to help patients bec ome more tolerant of uncertainty by discriminating between both types of wo rry and applying the correct strategy to each type. A multiple baseline des ign was used and subjects were 4 adults with a primary diagnosis of GAD. Tr eatment outcome was assessed with daily self-monitoring, self-report questi onnaires, and standardized clinician ratings. At posttest and 6-month follo w-up, 3 of 4 subjects no longer met diagnostic criteria for GAD and had att ained high end-state functioning. At 12-month follow-up, none of the subjec ts met GAD diagnostic criteria but end-state functioning was variable. The results also show that treatment outcome was highly related to change in in tolerance of uncertainty.