Maladaptive Coping Strategies in Anxiety Disorders and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Transdiagnostic Perspective
Maladaptive Coping Strategies in Anxiety Disorders and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Transdiagnostic Perspective

Summary/Abstract: Anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder constitute a significant burden at both individual and societal levels, owing to their high prevalence rates and substantial functional impairment. One of the central factors in the chronification of these disorders is the use of maladaptive coping strategies that individuals develop in an attempt to manage their symptoms. This study examines the maladaptive coping strategies observed in panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder from a transdiagnostic perspective. It further aims to situate these strategies within the Research Domain Criteria framework, which shares conceptual coherence with the transdiagnostic approach. The reviewed literature indicates that although maladaptive coping strategies reduce anxiety in the short term, they serve to maintain psychopathology over the long term through negative reinforcement cycles. Transdiagnostic analysis reveals that threat appraisal and interpretation biases, intolerance of uncertainty, perseverative cognition, and emotional avoidance emerge as shared mechanisms across disorders. Maladaptive coping strategies may be conceptualized not merely as disorder-specific clinical presentations, but as distinct phenotypic expressions of underlying transdiagnostic mechanisms. The findings of this review are expected to contribute to the identification of maladaptive coping strategies and to inform the development of transdiagnostic treatment protocols.

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