Gyongyi Ajtay and Dora Perczel Forintos 14. The role of general practitioner in suicide prevention using the Hopelessness Scale in primary care

This study examine whether negative beliefs about worry predict thought suppression and thought suppression predict negative beliefs. Such a reciprocal relation between negative beliefs about worry and thought suppression was investigated. A two-time point assessment was conducted with an interval of four weeks. Sixty-nine university students completed two-time point assessment. They completed White Beer Suppression Inventory (WBSI) and Metacognitive Beliefs about Worry Questionnaire. Synchronous effects model was used in analysis. This model showed that thought suppression predicted negative beliefs about worry. This result indicated that there may not be reciprocal relation between negative beliefs and thought suppression but only thought suppression may reinforce negative beliefs. Introduction Worry has been determined to be a central factor in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and has been associated with other several psychopathological conditions. Negative metacognitive beliefs about worry (like ‘worry is uncontrollable) is one of the core factor in the metacognitive model of GAD. People may often attempt not to think unpleasant thoughts that may trigger worrying. Unfortunately, a simple attempt to suppress a certain thought is often counterproductive; this is considered to be the paradoxical effect of thought suppression. Moreover, the failure of thought suppression may reinforce the belief in uncontrollability. Wells (1995) suggested the relation between negative meta-cognition and thought control in GAD. In the present study, the relation between negative metacognitive beliefs and thought suppression in normal subjects was investigated. Discussion This result indicated that there may not be reciprocal relation between negative beliefs and thought suppression but only thought suppression may reinforce negative beliefs. Wells(1995) suggested negative meta-cognition (metaworry) and thought control reinforce each other. But, in this study it wasn’t maintained. Method Instruments 1.Metacognitive Beliefs about Worry Questionnaire (Kanetsuki, Ito, & Nedate,2007). This instrument consists of two subscales: positive metabeliefs, negative meta-beliefs. In this study, negative meta-beliefs only was used (In the resent study (Kanetsuki et al., 2007), the α level for negative metabeliefs was taken at . 95) 2.White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI) (Wegner & Zanakos, 1994). The WBSI is a self-report measure of thought suppression. This measure is a widely used instrument and has proven to be a reliable and valid measure in a series of studies. Participants A total of 113 university students (88 men and 25 women) completed a two time-point assessment after an interval of four weeks. Their mean age was 19.22 years. Model Construction Synchronous effects model (Finkel, 1995) This model shows contemporary reciprocal effects between two variables at a given time point. Results The path from thought suppression to negative beliefs=. 31(p<.001) The path from negative beliefs to thought suppression=. 06(n.s) T2 Thought Suppression T2 Negative Beliefs . 33*** . 06 . 72***