The cognitive and emotional phenomenology of depression and anxiety: Are worry and hopelessness the cognitive correlates of NA and PA?

The study attempted to integrate the cognitive content-specificity and tripartite literatures to create a more holistic model of the emotional, physiological, and cognitive phenomenology of depression and anxiety. In addition, the constructs of hopelessness and worry were used to clarify ambiguous findings in the cognitive content-specificity research and to identify, possible cognitive correlates of high NA and low PA. The results from 124 clients at a university counseling center supported this attempt at integrating these literatures. Overall, there was good evidence that worry is a cognitive correlate of high NA. Consequently, we view worry and high NA as features of a constellation of correlated indices that are shared with both depressed and anxious mood states. Alternatively,, the results also support the position that hopelessness is a cognitive correlate of low PA. These features-low PA and hopelessness-define correlated indices that help discriminate depressed from anxious states. We view this integration of the cognitive and emotional literatures as providing evidence for a comprehensive map of the emotional and cognitive phenomenology in depression and anxiety.