A transdiagnostic evaluation of contrast avoidance across generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, and social anxiety disorder

Background: The contrast avoidance model (CAM) proposes that persons with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) are sensitive to sharp increases in negative emotion or decreases in positive emotion (i.e., negative emotional contrasts; NEC) and use worry to avoid NEC. Sensitivity to and avoidance of NEC could also be a shared feature of major depressive disorder (MDD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD).

Methods: In a large college sample (N = 1409), we used receiver operating characteristics analysis to examine the accuracy of a measure of emotional contrast avoidance in detecting probable GAD, MDD, and SAD.

Results: Participants with probable GAD, MDD, and SAD all reported higher levels of contrast avoidance than participants without the disorder (Cohen's d = 1.32, 1.62 and 1.53, respectively). Area under the curve, a measure of predictive accuracy, was 0.81, 0.87, and 0.83 for predicting probable GAD, MDD, and SAD, respectively. A cutoff score of 48.5 optimized predictive accuracy for probable GAD and SAD, and 50.5 optimized accuracy for probable MDD.

Conclusion: A measure of emotional contrast avoidance demonstrated excellent ability to predict probable GAD, MDD, and SAD. Sensitivity to and avoidance of NEC appears to be a transdiagnostic feature of these disorders.