Application of Self-Regulatory Executive Function (S-REF) Model in Psychopathology Formulation of Patients with Anxiety Disorders

The S-REF model of psychological disorder (Wells & Mathews, 1994) integrates information with the purpose of understanding the meta-system involving voluntary control of cognition, procedural knowledge and interactions among different levels of information processing. In anxiety disorder, the locus of explaining the symptoms is in their psychopathology formation. The present study aims to explore the application of S-REF model in psychopathology formulation among Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Social Phobia and Mixed Anxiety & Depressive Disorder. The sample consisted of 6 patients, including 2 from each group, on whom, Meta-Cognition Questionnaire (MCQ) (Cartwright-Hatton & Wells, 1997), Presumptive Stressful Life Event Scale (PSLES) (Singh et al., 1984), and Thematic Apperception Test (TAT: Morgan & Murray, 1935), were administered along with clinical interviews. Psychopathology formation for each of the 3 groups was formulated with the S-REF model using the chief complaints of the patients, scores obtained from MCQ and PSLES and meta-cognitive components from TAT narratives. Findings indicate that psychopathology formation takes place through various inputs from the family and environment which form a meta-system in an individual including metabeliefs about the self and meta-plans about dealing with the incoming stress which monitors the cognitive style and cognitive attentional syndrome leading to cognitive and emotional problems, the output manifestations being the symptoms.