Delay Discounting in Individuals With Anxiety and Related Disorders Compared to Healthy Controls

Delay discounting (DD), a behavioural economic index estimating one's preference for immediate over delayed gratification, has emerged as a potential transdiagnostic process. Steeper DD (i.e., greater preference for immediate reward) is seen among substance-based and behavioural addictions and multiple psychiatric disorders relative to controls. Limited research has investigated DD among anxiety and related disorders. Adults with primary diagnoses of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD; n = 166), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD; n = 62), panic disorder (PD; n = 46), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; n = 68), or social anxiety disorder (SAD; n = 100) were recruited in order to compare DD rates relative to healthy controls (n = 77). Measures included the Monetary Choice Questionnaire (measure of DD) and the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale-21 item version. Univariate analyses of variance (ANOVAs) with planned pairwise comparisons examining group differences in DD revealed steeper discounting among GAD (d = .32), SAD (d = .32), and PTSD (d = .53) groups relative to controls. No significant differences were found between OCD and PD relative to controls. These results suggest steeper DD rates are not universally found among anxiety and related disorders, limiting the use of DD as a transdiagnostic construct.