ABSTRACT
There has been a considerable increase in interest in cognitive approaches to clinical anxiety in recent years. Much of this interest has stemmed from the theoretical work of Beck (e.g., Beck & Clark, 1988; Beck & Emery, 1985). In essence, Beck has argued that individuals who become clinically anxious are characterized by certain schemas (e.g., organized collections of knowledge) relating to personal vulnerability and danger. It is assumed that these schemas remain latent until triggered or activated by appropriate environmental events (e.g., stressful life events). When these schemas are activated, they influence the processing of threat-related information in several ways: The processes affected include those involved in attention, comprehension, and retrieval.
