96 COGNITIVE THEORY AND RESEARCH ON ANXIETY
the short term safety- oriented coping may result in some immediate relief of anxiety
but in the long term it actually sustains threatening interpretations by preventing their
disconfirmation (Salkovskis, 1996b). In this way, extensive reliance on safety seeking
will contribute to the persistence of anxiety. The importance of safety seeking as a
maladaptive strategic coping response that contributes to the pathogenesis of anxiety
has been recognized as an important process in most of the specific anxiety disorders
such as GAD (Woody & Rachman, 1994), panic disorder (D. M. Clark, 1999), social
phobia (D. M. Clark & Wells, 1995), and PTSD (Ehlers & Clark, 2000). Like worry,
then, extensive use of safety seeking is a detrimental coping strategy that contributes to
the persistence of anxiety.
Thought and Emotion Suppression
The deliberate suppression of unwanted thoughts and emotions are two other coping
strategies that may contribute to the persistence of anxiety. Wegner and his colleagues
were the first to demonstrate that the deliberate suppression of even neutral cognitions,
such as the thought of a white bear, will cause a paradoxical rebound in the frequency of
the target thought once suppression efforts cease (Wegner, Schneider, Carter, & White,
1987). In the typical thought suppression experiment, individuals are randomly assigned
to one of three conditions: a short interval (e.g., 5 minutes) in which they can think any-
thing except a target thought (suppression condition), an express condition (purpose-
fully think the target thought), or monitor-only condition (think any thoughts including
the target thought). This is followed by a second interval of equal length in which all
participants are given an express or monitor-only condition. In both intervals partici-
pants indicate whenever the target thought intrudes into conscious awareness. Evidence
of postsuppression rebound is apparent when the suppression group reports a higher
rate of target intrusions during the subsequent express or monitor-only period than the
group that initially expressed or monitored their thoughts. The rebound phenomenon is
attributed to the lingering effects of intentional thought suppression that becomes most
apparent when mental control is relaxed (Wenzlaff & Wegner, 2000). The relevance of
this research for emotional disorders is obvious (for critical reviews, see Abramowitz,
Tolin, & Street, 2001; D. A. Clark, 2004; Purdon, 1999; Purdon & Clark, 2000; Rassin,
Merckelbach, & Muris, 2000; Wegner, 1994; Wenzlaff & Wegner, 2000). If unwanted
thoughts actually accelerate as a result of prior intentional suppression efforts, then
deliberate mental control of distressing thoughts would be a maladaptive cognitive cop-
ing strategy that contributes toward higher rates of threatening and disturbing cognition
seen in anxiety states. In this case thought suppression would be a major contributor
to the persistence of anxiety. However, two issues must be addressed. First, how often
do anxious individuals rely on deliberate thought suppression as a coping strategy? And
second, when anxious individuals suppress their unwanted threatening and worrisome
thoughts, is there a resurgence in anxious thinking and emotion?
PREvALENCE oF THoUgHT SUPPRESSIoN
The tendency to utilize thought suppression has been measured by self- report question-
naires like the White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI; Wegner & Zanakos, 1994).
The WBSI is a 15-item questionnaire that assesses individual differences in the tendency