Compulsive checking behaviors in generalized anxiety disorder

Recent evidence suggests that a relationship exists between worry, the cent ral feature of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and compulsive behaviors , particularly compulsive checking. In this article we report the results f rom two studies. The first study assessed the frequency of obsessions and c ompulsions in 107 principally diagnosed GAD clients. The second study exami ned levels of alexithymia in analogue samples of GAD checkers (n = 31), GAD noncheckers (n = 30). and non-GAD nonchecking controls (n = 27) using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (Bagby, Parker. & Taylor. 1994). The results f rom these studies suggest that compulsive behaviors in the form of compulsi ve checking is more common in GAD than previously expected and that such be haviors in GAD may act as an additional mechanism by which affective experi ences are avoided. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.