Advanced search
Publication Cover
Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics Volume 12, 2012 - Issue 8
Submit an article Journal homepage
2,648
Views
331
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Theme: Anxiety Disorders - Perspective

The intolerance of uncertainty construct in the context of anxiety disorders: theoretical and practical perspectives

R Nicholas Carleton Department of Psychology, University of Regina, 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK S4S0A2, Canada. [email protected]
Pages 937-947 | Published online: 09 Jan 2014

References

  • Kessler RC, Berglund P, Demler O, Jin R, Merikangas KR, Walters EE. Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 62(6), 593–602 (2005).
  • Kessler RC, Chiu WT, Demler O, Merikangas KR, Walters EE. Prevalence, severity, and comorbidity of 12-month DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 62(6), 617–627 (2005).
  • Barlow DH. Anxiety and Its Disorders. Guilford Press, NY, USA (2002).
  • Suárez L, Bennett S, Goldstein C, Barlow DH. Understanding anxiety disorders from a ‘triple vulnerability’ framework. In: Oxford Handbook of Anxiety and Related Disorders. Antony MM, Stein MB (Eds). Oxford University Press, NY, USA, 153–172 (2009).
  • Skinner BF. Science and Human Behavior. Macmillan, Oxford, UK (1953).
  • Bandura A. Human agency in social cognitive theory. Am. Psychol. 44(9), 1175–1184 (1989).
  • Searle JR. Freedom and Neurobiology: Reflections on Free Will, Language, and Political Power. Cambridge University Press, NY, USA (2004).
  • Burger JM. Desire for control and the illusion of control: the effects of familiarity and sequence of outcomes. J. Res. Pers. 20, 66–76 (1986).
  • Langer EJ. The illusion of control. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 32, 311–328 (1975).
  • Clark DA, Beck AT. Cognitive Therapy of Anxiety Disorders: Science and Practice. Guilford Press, NY, USA (2010).
  • Carleton RN, Sharpe D, Asmundson GJ. Anxiety sensitivity and intolerance of uncertainty: requisites of the fundamental fears? Behav. Res. Ther. 45(10), 2307–2316 (2007).
  • McEvoy PM, Mahoney AE. Achieving certainty about the structure of intolerance of uncertainty in a treatment-seeking sample with anxiety and depression. J. Anxiety Disord. 25(1), 112–122 (2011).
  • Berenbaum H, Bredemeier K, Thompson RJ. Intolerance of uncertainty: Exploring its dimensionality and associations with need for cognitive closure, psychopathology, and personality. J. Anxiety Disord. 22(1), 117–125 (2008).
  • Norton PJ. A psychometric analysis of the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale among four racial groups. J. Anxiety Disord. 19(6), 699–707 (2005).
  • Sexton KA, Dugas MJ. Defining distinct negative beliefs about uncertainty: validating the factor structure of the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale. Psychol. Assess. 21(2), 176–186 (2009).
  • Dugas MJ, Savard P, Gaudet A et al. Can the components of a cognitive model predict the severity of generalized anxiety disorder? Behav. Ther. 38(2), 169–178 (2007).
  • Tolin DF, Abramowitz JS, Brigidi BD, Foa EB. Intolerance of uncertainty in obsessive-compulsive disorder. J. Anxiety Disord. 17(2), 233–242 (2003).
  • Carleton RN, Weeks JW, Howell AN, Asmundson GJ, Antony MM, McCabe RE. Assessing the latent structure of the intolerance of uncertainty construct: an initial taxometric analysis. J. Anxiety Disord. 26(1), 150–157 (2012).
  • McEvoy PM, Mahoney AE. To be sure, to be sure: intolerance of uncertainty mediates symptoms of various anxiety disorders and depression. Behav. Ther. 43(3), 533–545 (2012).
  • Mahoney AE, McEvoy PM. Trait versus situation-specific intolerance of uncertainty in a clinical sample with anxiety and depressive disorders. Cogn. Behav. Ther. 41(1), 26–39 (2012).
  • Mahoney AE, McEvoy PM. A Transdiagnostic examination of intolerance of uncertainty across anxiety and depressive disorders. Cogn. Behav. Ther. doi:10.1080/16506073.2011.622130 (2011) (Epub ahead of print).
  • Ladouceur R, Talbot F, Dugas MJ. Behavioral expressions of intolerance of uncertainty in worry. Experimental findings. Behav. Modif. 21(3), 355–371 (1997).
  • Luhmann CC, Ishida K, Hajcak G. Intolerance of uncertainty and decisions about delayed, probabilistic rewards. Behav. Ther. 42(3), 378–386 (2011).
  • Bar-Haim Y, Lamy D, Pergamin L, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ, van IJzendoorn MH. Threat-related attentional bias in anxious and nonanxious individuals: a meta-analytic study. Psychol. Bull. 133(1), 1–24 (2007).
  • Mathews A, MacLeod C. Cognitive approaches to emotion and emotional disorders. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 45, 25–50 (1994).
  • Mathews A, MacLeod C. Cognitive vulnerability to emotional disorders. Annu. Rev. Clin. Psychol. 1, 167–195 (2005).
  • McNally RJ. Automaticity and the anxiety disorders. Behav. Res. Ther. 33(7), 747–754 (1995).
  • Bradley BP, Mogg K, Millar N, White J. Selective processing of negative information: effects of clinical anxiety, concurrent depression, and awareness. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 104(3), 532–536 (1995).
  • Cisler JM, Koster EH. Mechanisms of attentional biases towards threat in anxiety disorders: An integrative review. Clin. Psychol. Rev. 30(2), 203–216 (2010).
  • Epstein S. The nature of anxiety with emphasis upon its relationship to expectancy. In: Anxiety: Current Trends in Theory and Research. Spielberger CD (Ed.). Academic Press, NY, USA, 291–337 (1972).
  • Dugas MJ, Letarte H, Rhéaume J, Freeston MH, Ladouceur R. Worry and problem solving: evidence of a specific relationship. Cog. Ther. Res. 19, 109–120 (1995).
  • Freeston M, Rhéaume J, Letarte H, Dugas MJ, Ladouceur R. Why do people worry? Pers. Individ. Differ. 17, 791–802 (1994).
  • Dugas MJ, Hedayati M, Karavidas A, Buhr K, Francis K, Phillips NA. Intolerance of uncertainty and information processing: evidence of biased recall and interpretations. Cog. Ther. Res. 29(1), 57–70 (2005).
  • Hock M, Krohne HW. Coping with threat and memory for ambiguous information: testing the repressive discontinuity hypothesis. Emotion 4(1), 65–86 (2004).
  • Heydayati M, Dugas MJ, Buhr K, Francis K. The relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and the interpretation of ambiguous and unambiguous information. Presented at: The Annual Convention of the Association for Advancement of Behaviour Therapy. Boston, MA, USA, November 2003.
  • Greco V, Roger D. Coping with uncertainty: the construction and validation of a new measure. Pers. Individ. Differ. 31, 519–534 (2001).
  • Greco V, Roger D. Uncertainty, stress and health. Pers. Individ. Differ. 34, 1057–1068 (2003).
  • Nelson BD, Shankman SA. Does intolerance of uncertainty predict anticipatory startle responses to uncertain threat? Int. J. Psychophysiol. 81(2), 107–115 (2011).
  • Dugas MJ, Freeston MH, Ladouceur R. Intolerance of uncertainty and problem orientation in worry. Cog. Ther. Res. 21(6), 593–606 (1997).
  • Gigerenzer G. How to make cognitive illusions disappear: Beyond ‘heuristics and biases’. Eur. Rev. Soc. Psychol 2, 83–115 (1991).
  • Cosmides L. The logic of social exchange: has natural selection shaped how humans reason? Studies with the Wason selection task. Cognition 31(3), 187–276 (1989).
  • Cosmides L, Tooby J. Are humans good intuitive statisticians after all? Rethinking some conclusions from the literature on judgment under uncertainty. Cognition 58(1), 1–73 (1996).
  • Koerner N, Dugas MJ. An investigation of appraisals in individuals vulnerable to excessive worry: the role of intolerance of uncertainty. Cog. Ther. Res. 32, 619–638 (2008).
  • Carleton RN, Mulvogue MK, Thibodeau MA, McCabe RE, Antony MM, Asmundson GJ. Increasingly certain about uncertainty: intolerance of uncertainty across anxiety and depression. J. Anxiety Disord. 26(3), 468–479 (2012).
  • Dugas MJ, Robichaud M. Cognitive–Behavioral Treatment for Generalized Anxiety Disorder: from Science to Practice. Routledge, NY, USA (2007).
  • Koerner N, Dugas MJ. A cognitive model of generalized anxiety disorder: the role of intolerance of uncertainty. In: Worry and its Psychological Disorders: Theory, Assessment and Treatment. Davey GC, Wells A (Eds). Wiley, Chichester, UK (2006).
  • Holaway RM, Heimberg RG, Coles ME. A comparison of intolerance of uncertainty in analogue obsessive-compulsive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. J. Anxiety Disord. 20(2), 158–174 (2006).
  • Joshi ST, Schultz DE. H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press, CT, USA, 255 (2001).
  • Frenkel-Brunswik E. Intolerance of ambiguity as an emotional and perceptual personality variable. J. Pers. 18(1), 108–143 (1949).
  • Krohne HW. The concept of coping modes – relating cognitive person variables to actual coping behavior. Adv. Behav. Res. Ther. 11(4), 235–248 (1989).
  • Krohne HW. Vigilance and cognitive avoidance as concepts in coping research. In: Attention and Avoidance. Krohne HW (Ed.). Hogrefe & Huber, Toronto, ON, Canada, 19–50 (1993).
  • Andersen SM, Schwartz AH. Intolerance of ambiguity and depression – a cognitive vulnerability factor linked to hopelessness. Soc. Cognition 10(3), 271–298 (1992).
  • Kruglansky AW. Motivations for judging and knowing: implications for causal attribution. In: The Handbook of Motivation and Cognition: Foundation of Social Behavior. Higgins ET, Sorrentino RM (Eds). Guilford Press, NY, USA 333–368 (1990).
  • Ladouceur R, Dugas MJ, Freeston MH. Intolerance of uncertainty in normal and excessive worry. Presented at: The World Congress of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. Copenhagen, Denmark (1995).
  • Grenier S, Barrette A-M, Ladouceur R. Intolerance of uncertainty and intolerance of ambiguity: similarities and differences. Pers. Individ. Differ. 39(3), 593–600 (2005).
  • Sookman D, Pinard G. The Cognitive Schemata Scale: a multidimensional measure of cognitive schemas in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Presented at: The World Congress of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. Copenhagen, Denmark (1995).
  • Craig KJ, Chamberlin SR. The neuropsychology of anxiety disorders. In: Textbook of Anxiety Disorders. Stein DJ, Hollander E, Rothbaum BO (Eds). American Psychiatric Publishing, VA, USA, 87–102 (2009).
  • Ladouceur R, Gosselin P, Dugas MJ. Experimental manipulation of intolerance of uncertainty: a study of a theoretical model of worry. Behav. Res. Ther. 38(9), 933–941 (2000).
  • Dugas MJ, Gosselin P, Landouceur R. Intolerance of Uncertainty and Worry: Investigating Specificity in a Nonclinical Sample. Cog. Ther. Res. 25(5), 551–558 (2001).
  • Buhr K, Dugas MJ. The Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale: psychometric properties of the English version. Behav. Res. Ther. 40(8), 931–945 (2002).
  • Dugas MJ, Marchand A, Ladouceur R. Further validation of a cognitive–behavioral model of generalized anxiety disorder: diagnostic and symptom specificity. J. Anxiety Disord. 19(3), 329–343 (2005).
  • Dugas MJ, Schwartz A, Francis K. Intolerance of uncertainty, worry, and depression. Cog. Ther. Res. 28(6), 835–842 (2004).
  • Starcevic V, Berle D. Cognitive specificity of anxiety disorders: a review of selected key constructs. Depress. Anxiety 23(2), 51–61 (2006).
  • Carleton RN, Norton MA, Asmundson GJ. Fearing the unknown: a short version of the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale. J. Anxiety Disord. 21(1), 105–117 (2007).
  • Birrell J, Meares K, Wilkinson A, Freeston M. Toward a definition of intolerance of uncertainty: a review of factor analytical studies of the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale. Clin. Psychol. Rev. 31(7), 1198–1208 (2011).
  • Budner S. Intolerance of ambiguity as a personality variable. J. Pers. 30, 29–50 (1962).
  • Eysenck HJ. The science of personality: nomothetic. Psychol. Rev. 61(5), 339–342 (1954).
  • Bochner S. Defining Intolerance of Ambiguity. Psychological Record 15(3), 393–400 (1965).
  • Furnham A, Ribchester T. Tolerance of ambiguity: A review of the concept, its measurement and applications. Curr. Psychol. 14(3), 179–199 (1995).
  • Johnson HL, Court KL, Roersma MH, Kinnaman DT. Integration as integration: Tolerance of ambiguity and the integrative process at the undergraduate level. J. Psychol. Theol. 23(4), 271–276 (1995).
  • Tsui J. Tolerance for ambiguity, uncertainty audit qualifications and bankers perceptions. Psychol. Rep. 72(3), 915–919 (1993).
  • Leyro TM, Zvolensky MJ, Bernstein A. Distress tolerance and psychopathological symptoms and disorders: a review of the empirical literature among adults. Psychol. Bull. 136(4), 576–600 (2010).
  • Myers JR, Hendersonking DH, Hendersonking EI. Facing technological risks: The importance of individual differences. J. Res. Pers. 31(1), 1–20 (1997).
  • Macdonald AP. Revised scale for ambiguity tolerance – reliability and validity. Psychol. Rep. 26(3), 791–798 (1970).
  • Rydell ST, Rosen E. Measurement and some correlates of need-cognition. Psychol. Rep. 19(1), 139–165 (1966).
  • Norton RW. Measurement of ambiguity tolerance. J. Pers. Assess. 39(6), 607–619 (1975).
  • Buhr K, Dugas MJ. Investigating the construct validity of intolerance of uncertainty and its unique relationship with worry. J. Anxiety Disord. 20(2), 222–236 (2006).
  • Hamilton V. Perceptual and personality dynamics in reactions to ambiguity. Br. J. Psychol. 48(3), 200–215 (1957).
  • Worry and its Psychological Disorders: Theory, Assessment and Treatment. Davey GCL, Wells A (Eds). Wiley, Chichester, UK (2006).
  • Khawaja NG, Yu L, NH. A comparison of the 27-item and 12-item intolerance of uncertainty scales. Clin. Psychol. UK 14(3), 97–106 (2010).
  • Carleton RN, Collimore KC, Asmundson GJ. ‘It’s not just the judgements – it’s that I don’t know’: intolerance of uncertainty as a predictor of social anxiety. J. Anxiety Disord. 24(2), 189–195 (2010).
  • Carleton RN, Gosselin P, Asmundson GJ. The intolerance of uncertainty index: replication and extension with an English sample. Psychol. Assess. 22(2), 396–406 (2010).
  • Gosselin P, Ladouceur R, Evers A, Laverdière A, Routhier S, Tremblay-Picard M. Evaluation of intolerance of uncertainty: development and validation of a new self-report measure. J. Anxiety Disord. 22(8), 1427–1439 (2008).
  • Dugas MJ, Buhr K, Ladouceur R. The role of intolerance of uncertainty in the etiology and maintenance of generalized anxiety disorder. In: Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Advances in Research and Practice. Heimberg RG, Turk CL, Mennin DS (Eds). Guilford Press, NY, USA, 143–163 (2004).
  • Ladouceur R, Dugas MJ, Freeston MH et al. Specificity of generalized anxiety disorder symptoms and processes. Behav. Ther. 30(2), 191–207 (1999).
  • Laugesen N, Dugas MJ, Bukowski WM. Understanding adolescent worry: the application of a cognitive model. J. Abnorm. Child Psychol. 31(1), 55–64 (2003).
  • Buhr K, Dugas MJ. The role of fear of anxiety and intolerance of uncertainty in worry: an experimental manipulation. Behav. Res. Ther. 47(3), 215–223 (2009).
  • Sexton KA, Norton PJ, Walker JR, Norton GR. Hierarchical model of generalized and specific vulnerabilities in anxiety. Cogn. Behav. Ther. 32(2), 82–94 (2003).
  • American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. APA, Washington, DC, USA (2000).
  • Watkins E, Moulds M, Mackintosh B. Comparisons between rumination and worry in a non-clinical population. Behav. Res. Ther. 43(12), 1577–1585 (2005).
  • Harvey AG, Watkins E, Mansell W, Shafran R. Cognitive Behavioural Processes Across Psychological Disorders: A Transdiagnostic Approach to Research and Rreatment. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK (2004).
  • McEvoy PM, Mahoney AE, Moulds ML. Are worry, rumination, and post-event processing one and the same? Development of the repetitive thinking questionnaire. J. Anxiety Disord. 24(5), 509–519 (2010).
  • Norton PJ, Mehta PD. Hierarchical model of vulnerabilities for emotional disorders. Cogn. Behav. Ther. 36(4), 240–254 (2007).
  • Lind C, Boschen MJ. Intolerance of uncertainty mediates the relationship between responsibility beliefs and compulsive checking. J. Anxiety Disord. 23(8), 1047–1052 (2009).
  • Khawaja NG, Mcmahon J. The relationship of meta-worry and intolerance of uncertainty with pathological worry, anxiety, and depression. Behav Change 28(4), 165–180 (2011).
  • Anxiety Sensitivity: Theory, Research, and Treatment of the Fear of Anxiety. Taylor S (Ed). Erlbaum, NJ, USA (1999).
  • Boelen PA, Reijntjes A. Intolerance of uncertainty and social anxiety. J. Anxiety Disord. 23(1), 130–135 (2009).
  • Norton PJ, Sexton KA, Walker JR, Norton GR. Hierarchical model of vulnerabilities for anxiety: replication and extension with a clinical sample. Cogn. Behav. Ther. 34(1), 50–63 (2005).
  • van der Heiden C, Melchior K, Muris P, Bouwmeester S, Bos AE, van der Molen HT. A hierarchical model for the relationships between general and specific vulnerability factors and symptom levels of generalized anxiety disorder. J. Anxiety Disord. 24(2), 284–289 (2010).
  • Boelen PA, Vrinssen I, van Tulder F. Intolerance of uncertainty in adolescents: correlations with worry, social anxiety, and depression. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 198(3), 194–200 (2010).
  • Boelen PA, Carleton RN. Intolerance of uncertainty, hypochondriacal concerns, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and worry. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 200(3), 208–213 (2012).
  • Butzer B, Kuiper NA. Relationships between the frequency of social comparisons and self-concept clarity, intolerance of uncertainty, anxiety, and depression. Pers. Individ. Differ. 41(1), 167–176 (2006).
  • Miranda R, Fontes M, Marroquin B. Cognitive content-specificity in future expectancies: role of hopelessness and intolerance of uncertainty in depression and GAD symptoms. Behav. Res. Ther. 46(10), 1151–1159 (2008).
  • Yook K, Kim KH, Suh SY, Lee KS. Intolerance of uncertainty, worry, and rumination in major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. J. Anxiety Disord. 24(6), 623–628 (2010).
  • Miranda R, Mennin DS. Depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and certainty in pessimistic predictions about the future. Cog. Ther. Res. 31(1), 71–82 (2007).
  • Gentes EL, Ruscio AM. A meta-analysis of the relation of intolerance of uncertainty to symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Clin. Psychol. Rev. 31(6), 923–933 (2011).
  • De Bruin GO, Rassin E, Muris P. The prediction of worry in non-clinical individuals: the role of intolerance of uncertainty, meta-worry, and neuroticism. J. of Psychopathol. and Behav. Assess. 29(2), 93–100 (2007).
  • Boelen P. Intolerance of uncertainty and emotional distress following the death of a loved one. Anxiety. Stress. Coping 23(4), 471–478 (2010).
  • Dugas MJ, Ladouceur R. Treatment of GAD. Targeting intolerance of uncertainty in two types of worry. Behav. Modif. 24(5), 635–657 (2000).
  • Ladouceur R, Dugas MJ, Freeston MH, Léger E, Gagnon F, Thibodeau N. Efficacy of a cognitive–behavioral treatment for generalized anxiety disorder: evaluation in a controlled clinical trial. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 68(6), 957–964 (2000).
  • Dugas MJ, Laugesen N, Bukowski WM. Intolerance of uncertainty, fear of anxiety, and adolescent worry. J. Abnorm. Child Psychol. doi:10.1007/s10802-012-9611-1 (2012) (Epub ahead of print).
  • Mahoney AE, McEvoy PM. Changes in intolerance of uncertainty during cognitive behavior group therapy for social phobia. J. Behav. Ther. Exp. Psychiatry 43(2), 849–854 (2012).
  • Hewitt SN, Egan S, Rees C. Preliminary investigation of intolerance of uncertainty treatment for anxiety disorders. Clin. Psychol-Uk 13(2), 52–58 (2009).

Websites

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Order Reprints Request Corporate Permissions

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

Request Academic Permissions

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.

Related research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.