The language of worry: Examining linguistic elements of worry models

Geronimi, Elena M. C.; Woodruff-Borden, Janet

doi:10.1080/02699931.2014.917071

Cited by 12 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Instead, a focus on the present emerged as the linguistic feature that most prominently and positively correlates with GAD (33). This finding, however, is at odds with an earlier study in clinical setting, in which the spoken language of women diagnosed with GAD was linked to lower use of present, and higher use of future, verb tense (34). These findings may be attributed to platform-specific characteristics and inherent differences between written and spoken language, but they also illustrate how little consensus exists regarding the verbal linguistic markers of GAD.…”

Section: The Verbal-linguistic Nature Of Worry and Gadcontrasting

confidence: 65%

Toward Linguistic Recognition of Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Rook

Mazza

Lefter

et al. 2022

Front. Digit. Health

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BackgroundGeneralized anxiety disorder (GAD) refers to extreme, uncontrollable, and persistent worry and anxiety. The disorder is known to affect the social functioning and well-being of millions of people, but despite its prevalence and burden to society, it has proven difficult to identify unique behavioral markers. Interestingly, the worrying behavior observed in GAD is argued to stem from a verbal linguistic process. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate if GAD can be predicted from the language people use to put their anxious worries into words. Given the importance of avoidance sensitivity (a higher likelihood to respond anxiously to novel or unexpected triggers) in GAD, this study also explored if prediction accuracy increases when individual differences in behavioral avoidance and approach sensitivity are taken into account.MethodAn expressive writing exercise was used to explore whether GAD can be predicted from linguistic characteristics of written narratives. Specifically, 144 undergraduate student participants were asked to recall an anxious experience during their university life, and describe this experience in written form. Clinically validated behavioral measures for GAD and self-reported sensitivity in behavioral avoidance/inhibition (BIS) and behavioral approach (BAS), were collected. A set of classification experiments was performed to evaluate GAD predictability based on linguistic features, BIS/BAS scores, and a concatenation of the two.ResultsThe classification results show that GAD can, indeed, be successfully predicted from anxiety-focused written narratives. Prediction accuracy increased when differences in BIS and BAS were included, which suggests that, under those conditions, negatively valenced emotion words and words relating to social processes could be sufficient for recognition of GAD.ConclusionsUndergraduate students with a high GAD score can be identified based on their written recollection of an anxious experience during university life. This insight is an important first step toward development of text-based digital health applications and technologies aimed at remote screening for GAD. Future work should investigate the extent to which these results uniquely apply to university campus populations or generalize to other demographics.

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Section: The Verbal-linguistic Nature Of Worry and Gadcontrasting

confidence: 65%

Toward Linguistic Recognition of Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Rook

Mazza

Lefter

et al. 2022

Front. Digit. Health

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“…Recent developments in computerized text analysis have shown that counting the specific types of words that people naturally use, also called quantitative word count analysis, provides important information about their psychological health and adjustment (23,24,40). Word use has been found to differentiate between formerly, never, and currently depressed students (43) and to discriminate women with and without generalized anxiety disorder (13); it has also been found to be a marker of suicidal ideation (46), adjustment to breast cancer (40), and psychological change surrounding traumatic events (5,28,35). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linguistic Indicators of Pain Catastrophizing in Patients With Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain

Junghaenel

Schneider

Broderick

2017

The Journal of Pain

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The present study examined markers of pain catastrophizing in the word use of patients with chronic pain. Patients (n = 71) completed the Pain Catastrophizing Scale and wrote about their life with pain. Quantitative word count analysis examined whether the essays contained linguistic indicators of catastrophizing. Bivariate correlations showed that catastrophizing was associated with greater use of first person singular pronouns, such as “I” (r = .27, p≤ .05) and pronouns referencing other people (r = 28, p≤ .05). Catastrophizing was further significantly associated with greater use of sadness (r = .35, p≤ .01) and anger (r = .30, p≤ .05) words. No significant relationships with positive emotion and cognitive process words were evident. Controlling for patients’ engagement in the writing task, gender, age, pain intensity, and neuroticism in multiple regression, the linguistic categories together uniquely explained 13.6% of the variance in catastrophizing (p≤ .001). First person singular pronouns (β = .24, p≤ .05) and words relating to sadness (β = .25, p≤ .05) were significant, and pronouns referencing other people (β = .19, p≤ .10) were trending. The results suggest that pain catastrophizing is associated with a “linguistic fingerprint” that can be discerned from patients’ natural word use.

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“…Findings from regression analyses indicate that those with higher activity engagement express fewer first-person plural pronouns but more other-person referring pronouns. Previous literature showing that individuals with depressed and anxious symptoms, higher suicidal ideation, and greater pain catastrophizing tend to speak with the greater use of first person singular pronouns (Geronimi & Woodruff-Borden, 2015;Handelman & Lester, 2007;Junghaenel et al, 2017) raises the possibility that this pattern may reflect lower levels of self-expression of distress and pain among those with higher pain acceptance. The findings of a higher use of first-person and other-focused pronouns among those with higher pain catastrophizing were interpreted in the context of the communal coping model, which posits that individuals with high pain catastrophizing likely engage in exaggerated pain expression to solicit social support (Sullivan, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Computerized text analysis (e.g., Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count [LIWC]; Pennebaker, Booth, et al, 2015) provides quantitative word counts and linguistic categories, which help us better understand one’s cognitive-emotional processes. LIWC has been used to differentiate people with symptoms of depression or anxiety from those without them (Geronimi & Woodruff-Borden, 2015), identify people at high risk for suicide (Handelman & Lester, 2007), measure verbal expressions of emotion (Jasinski et al, 2016; Kahn et al, 2007), and understand psychological and social changes to interactive behavior involved in traumatic experiences (Cohn et al, 2004; Mehl & Pennebaker, 2003; Pennebaker et al, 1997). LIWC has also been used to identify linguistic indicators to predict healthy family adjustment following breast cancer (Robbins et al, 2013) and an effective communication style of physicians who work with patients with chronic pain (Shields et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linguistic indicators of chronic pain acceptance in individuals with spinal cord injury.

Kim¹,

Rohn²,

Kratz³

2021

Rehabilitation Psychology

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Objective: Pain acceptance is a robust predictor of adjustment to chronic pain, including pain in those with spinal cord injury (SCI). This preliminary study aimed to identify linguistic patterns indicative of chronic pain acceptance to gain new insights into the underlying cognitive-emotional process of this construct. Method: Individuals with SCI and chronic pain (N = 30) completed the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ) and a semistructured interview about their pain. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software was used to quantify linguistic categories of interest in transcribed interviews. Results: Results of hierarchical linear regressions (controlling for pain intensity, age, and education) showed that personal pronouns explained an additional 26.9% of the variance in CPAQ activity engagement, which was associated with a lower frequency of first-person plural pronouns and a higher frequency of third person pronouns. Conjunction words explained an additional 12.8% and 19.2% of the variance in CPAQ total and pain willingness scores, respectively; frequency of conjunction words was negatively associated with acceptance. Perceptual processes words accounted for an additional 39.9% of the variance in pain willingness, which was associated with a lower frequency of seeing words and a higher frequency of hearing and feeling words. Conclusions: Findings suggest that pain acceptance is associated with unique linguistic patterns that can be identified in natural word use among individuals with SCI and chronic pain. Future research to further investigate linguistic indicators of pain acceptance and other clinically relevant pain constructs is warranted and could advance theoretical models of pain adaptation and clinical approaches to treating pain. Impact and ImplicationsAlthough pain acceptance is considered a robust predictor of adjustment to pain, linguistic patterns indicative of pain acceptance have not been fully understood. Using quantitative text analysis, this study is the first to examine qualitative interview data to identify unique linguistic patterns of pain acceptance among individuals with SCI and chronic pain. The study supports the theoretical framework of pain acceptance as demonstrating less reference to the self and greater reference to others, the expression of ideas in a less interconnected way, and greater contact with, or emphasis on, sensory/perceptual experiences (hearing and feeling), regardless of pain intensity. Attention to verbal expression can reveal aspects of the underlying cognitiveemotional processes of the pain experience, which may be beneficial to pain management and treatment.

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The language of worry: Examining linguistic elements of worry models

Cited by 12 publications

References 17 publications

Toward Linguistic Recognition of Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Toward Linguistic Recognition of Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Linguistic Indicators of Pain Catastrophizing in Patients With Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain

Linguistic indicators of chronic pain acceptance in individuals with spinal cord injury.

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