This article was published on: 08/26/25 5:13 PM

Written by Ally Kozak, Undergraduate Intern

Worrying is something we all do. It is defined as, “a chain of repetitive and uncontrollable thoughts about possible future negative events” (Rashtbari & Saed, 2020). We ask questions like, “What if…?”, and go through all the possible scenarios in our heads.

Worry is a key feature of anxiety disorders, namely generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The difference between normative worry and worry in GAD lies in the fact the worry is excessive, persistent, and associated with distress or impairment in functioning (Rashtbari & Saed, 2020). Worrying has been seen to function as a method of avoiding rapid changes in emotion, particularly a decline of positive emotion or an increase in negative emotion (Newman & Przeworski, 2024). This phenomenon is known as the contrast avoidance model. This model essentially examines the function that worry plays in regulating emotional states (Newman & Przeworski, 2024).

According to the contrast avoidance model, individuals with GAD are sensitive to shifts in emotion. Worry functions as a means of maintaining a negative emotional state to avoid unexpected shifts into such states (Crouch et al., 2017). More simply put, individuals with GAD may attempt to remain in a negative state of worry to avoid emotional reactivity that may occur when there is an undesired outcome (Crouch et al., 2017). Worry has essentially been identified as “helpful” in reducing distress relating to negative emotional contrasts, or sudden shifts into negative states, for those with GAD (Crouch et al., 2017).

To conceptualize this model, imagine a scenario in which a student takes an important test. When anticipating the results, the outcome is truly unknown to the student, there is no telling whether they will pass or fail. The student worries excessively about the results of the test, presuming that they failed the test and are going to get a terrible grade in the class. The student then receives their grade on the test and finds out they did very well and did in fact pass. Now, the student is pleasantly surprised and excited, experiencing a positive emotional affect.

However, now imagine that the student expected and worried about doing poorly and did truly end up failing the test and the class. The student may experience a slighter increase in negative emotion than they would if they had not worried about the test because they essentially “expected” that outcome and had already maintained a negative emotional state. As shown in this example, worry can act as a protective factor for those with GAD.

As with many anxiety and related disorders, exposure, specifically to these types of negative emotional contrasts, may be an effective method of treatment for those with GAD (Kim & Newman, 2022). This type of intervention would target behavior to reduce the negative reinforcement that occurs when a person worries to avoid being surprised by or feel further distressed by a negative outcome (Kim & Newman, 2022).

References

Crouch, T. A., Lewis, J. A., Erickson, T. M., & Newman, M. G. (2017). Prospective investigation of the contrast avoidance model of generalized anxiety and worry. Behavior therapy, 48(4), 544-556.

Kim, H., & Newman, M. G. (2022). Avoidance of negative emotional contrast from worry and rumination: An application of the Contrast Avoidance Model. Journal of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy, 32(1), 33-43.

Newman, M. G., & Przeworski, A. (2024). Introduction to a special issue on the contrast avoidance model. Journal of anxiety disorders, 102, 102831.

Rashtbari, A., & Saed, O. (2020). Contrast avoidance model of worry and generalized anxiety disorder: A theoretical perspective. Cogent Psychology, 7(1), 1800262.