The Influence of Anxiety on the Self-Regulation of Psychological Counseling Clients in a Situation of Uncertainty

Martyanova Galina Yurievna PhD in Psychology Associate Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, Moscow City Teachers Training University 129226, Russia, Moscow, 2nd agricultural passage, 4 martyanova94@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

IntroductionModern crises of a person's political, socio-economic and cultural life inevitably lead to increased uncertainty, when not only the understanding of situational potential narrows, but also the expectation of a negative development of events increases.

The structure of the situation is a system of relations between external and internal conditions in relation to the subject, when the balance of which is disturbed, tension arises that requires additional purposeful activity. Reducing tension reduces the degree of difficulty of the situation and characterizes it with the parameters of adaptive activity, in the opposite case, if it is impossible to reduce tension, maladaptive coping causes a symptom complex of negative experiences, which in turn determines violations already in the integral system of subjective self-regulation ^[6]. The situation of uncertainty initially has an undifferentiated causal regulation of both external and internal activity, so the state of anxiety as a response is natural in it. This is particularly indicated by the results of most studies of anxiety during the coronavirus pandemic conducted in Russia and abroad. ^{[1, 3, 5, 10, 12]}.

Any context of anxiety research should justify the possibility of applying the acquired knowledge in a specific practical field. Our interest in the stated problem is connected with the development of a subject-regulatory approach to psychological counseling, where the genesis of the problem is considered as a complex process of establishing subjective-evaluative causal relationships of events and facts, which is reflected through cognitive, emotional and behavioral attitudes to reality ^[7].

The subject of the situation directs his activity to the regulation of uncertainty not so much in the external, objectively acting reality, as in the internal one. The anxious experience of uncertainty is a consistent set of unpleasant physiological symptoms caused by one's own cognitions and confirmed by relevant external information ^[11]. It is believed that such anxiety is explained by the tendency to misinterpret normal physiological symptoms in the absence of any actual diseases and increase them when assessing the situation as tense ^[3]. Therefore, it is important for us to find out how the experience of anxiety regulates subjective situational activity, on the basis of which it will be possible to form assistance and self-help programs.

In this study, we rely on the provisions of O. A. Konopkin's theory of self-regulation of voluntary activity ^[4], where conscious self-regulation is considered as a condition for coordination of various mental subsystems and as a mechanism for reflection of one's own activity for adaptation to environmental conditions ^[2]

The purpose of the study is to determine the impact of anxiety on the conscious self–regulation of psychological counseling clients in a modern situation of uncertainty.

MethodsThe study was conducted between April and December 2022.

The subjects were psychological counseling clients presenting the problem of increasing anxiety in a situation of uncertainty arising under the influence of socio-economic and political events in Russia. The main content of the subjects' requests for help was associated with regression of anxiety coping skills, and seeking help was assessed as an opportunity and desire to reduce anxiety at the expense of their own resources. A sign of the representativeness of the sample was the condition of their absence of borderline and pathological affective disorders. A total of 94 people participated in the study, 54 of them women and 40 men. The age of the subjects is 29-46 years. The subjects are Russian-speaking, live in Moscow and the Moscow region, St. Petersburg, Voronezh, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Tula. All the subjects received counseling and filled out questionnaires online.

The criteria for assessing the condition of the subjects were: 1 – the level of tolerance to uncertainty as a result of assessing a stressful life situation, 2 – the level of personal anxiety as the basis of negative dynamics of anxiety, 3 – the level of situational anxiety as a factor of situational response, 4 – the somatic level of anxiety manifestation. The survey of the subjects was conducted by psychological consultants at the initial stage of counseling.

The S. Badner questionnaire modified by T. V. Kornilova was used to study tolerance and intolerance to uncertainty, the Spielberger–Khanin scale (STAI) and the hospital anxiety scale (HADS) were used to analyze the level and severity of anxiety. Conscious self–regulation was studied by the method "Style of self-regulation of behavior - SSP" by V. I. Morosanova. This technique allows you to study the general level of self-regulation and its main stylistic components: planning, modeling, programming and evaluation of the result.

Data processing was carried out in the SPSS Statistics 23.0 program.

Research resultsThe comparison of types of anxiety and parameters of self-regulation in the subjects was carried out according to the average values.

The primary empirical data are presented in table 1.

Table 1. Average values of anxiety severity, tolerance to uncertainty and self-regulation in the subjects

Note: when p =0.00

The average values of the anxiety questionnaire scales show the presence of high values of reactive and personal anxiety according to STAI, a subclinical level of anxiety according to HADS and low indicators of tolerance to uncertainty. At the same time, each alarm parameter has close links with tolerance to uncertainty, showing that the lower the tolerance to uncertainty, the higher the alarm value. The correlation of reactive anxiety with tolerance is -0.472 at p =0.000, personal anxiety with tolerance is -0.337 at p =0.001 and subclinical anxiety is -0.387 at p =0.000. Correlations prove that the cognitive assessment of the situation as uncertain depends on the severity of the subject's anxiety.

The average value of the general level of the style of conscious self–regulation is 20.35, which corresponds to low indicators according to the method "Style of self–regulation of behavior - SSP" by V. I. Morosanova. The subjects also demonstrate reduced values for the main blocks of conscious self-regulation: planning (4.38), programming (5.49), modeling (5.55) and evaluation of results (4.93). Low planning values indicate the instability of the proposed goals and their dependence on the mood and general condition of the person. Modeling indicators indicate that the ideas about how to achieve the goal are developed in the subjects, but together with low planning values, they are constantly changing, causing internal doubt. An insufficient degree of awareness is also observed when building programs for their actions. The evaluation of the results is adequate, but does not contribute to the correction of the selected programs and conditions of activity. In general, we can say that the need for self-conscious self-management has been formed, but its implementation depends on the content and strength of the situation in which a person finds himself. At the same time, the possibility of regulatory compensation of negative external and internal influences is also reduced, which does not allow optimal adaptation to the situation.

To test the hypothesis about the influence of anxiety on the parameters of conscious self-regulation, regression models were built for each block of self-regulation. The data of the correlation and regression analysis are presented in Table 2.

Table 2. Predictors of conscious self-regulation (data from correlation and regression analysis)

All models are statistically significant. In the "Planning" model, the correlation coefficients are negative (from -0.438 to -0.546). The more, therefore, a person worries, the weaker his processes of setting and accepting his own goals. Determining the activity of regulating conscious goals are reactive anxiety in a situation of uncertainty (?= -0.411) and subclinical anxiety (?= -0.228). A negative relationship between variables is also noted in the "Programming" model. The construction of action programs in a situation of uncertainty is influenced by all three parameters: personal anxiety (?= -0.372), reactive anxiety (?= -0.308) and subclinical anxiety (?= -0.227). Personal anxiety (-0.521), subclinical anxiety (-0.410) and reactive anxiety (-0.408) also demonstrate a confident negative relationship with "Modeling". The main predictor of violation of regulatory activity in this model is personal anxiety (?= -0.315). The "Evaluation of results" model is characterized by the lowest correlation indicators (from -0.304 to -0.384). Reactive anxiety (?= -0.319) and personal anxiety (?= -0.259) most of all determine violations in the evaluation of their actions.

Considering separately the predictors of the regulatory activity of the subjects, we can note their unequal influence on the blocks of conscious self-regulation. Thus, the personal level of anxiety response to a situation of uncertainty does not significantly affect the processes of goal setting, but determines the conditions and programs of action in a situation of uncertainty and their assessment. While situational anxiety is a predictor of planning, programming and evaluation of the result. The level of subclinical anxiety primarily determines planning and programming.

Discussion of the resultsThe distribution of average values by types of anxiety allows us to present it as a single symptom complex of experience in a situation of uncertainty, within which different components of anxiety determine regulatory activity in different ways.

The personal level of anxiety response can be considered as a relatively stable education, the basis for assessing the situation as uncertain. It is this disturbing reason that does not allow us to adapt our own regulatory models to the life situation. The reactive level is responsible for the assessment and attitude of the subject to specific event conditions and affects the setting of goals in current situations. Subclinical anxiety acts as an indicator of psychophysiological well-being, which in turn records violations of regulatory activity, and above all in the planning and programming processes.

Anxiety caused by the impossibility of obtaining objective knowledge reflects the basic modality of the situation – uncertainty. Its importance for self-regulation directly depends on the amount and content of information. Control, in turn, determines the internal stability of the situation to which it becomes possible to adapt. The subjects, being clients of psychological counseling, initially have an increased level of personal anxiety. The excess of an anxious situational response in a specific event can be considered as a regression of skills previously developed in psychotherapy, correction and counseling. We believe that this is a sign of a violation of regulatory activity in a difficult life situation. We can explain the return to the disturbed response by the absence or limitation of the ability to apply the acquired skills in a situational context due to the high degree of uncertainty of the event. In addition, such a regression is supported by a system of self-concepts as a subject in whose experience there is a problematic regulation of activity. When the tension of the situation increases, it is this reflexive experience that turns out to be stronger than the new skill.

Low values of the general style of self-regulation and reduced indicators of planning, modeling, programming and evaluation of results indicate a violation of adaptation. The uncertainty of the situation does not allow us to keep the accepted goals, identify optimal conditions for activity, build action programs, evaluate the result and make adjustments. The external regulation of the situation turns out to be stronger than the internal one, information is more important than one's own judgments and conclusions, psychological defenses are brighter than arbitrary coping.

The main process in an integrated system of self–regulation is planning. It is around the setting and acceptance of a conscious goal that the entire system of self-regulation is organized. The dependence of planning on anxiety determines the hierarchy of subsequent regulatory violations: from unconstructive goal-setting to a distorted assessment of arbitrary activity. According to regression analysis, programming is the most vulnerable: an increased anxiety background distorts behavioral activity. When the external eventfulness is in constant uncontrolled dynamics, it becomes unclear what actions will be effective and what result will satisfy the situation itself. Anxiety, therefore, acts as an indicator of intolerance to the uncertainty of the situation. Intolerance to uncertainty is a tendency to experience uncontrolled elements of a situation in the absence of confidence that the result of these elements will be unambiguously negative ^[13]. The data of Freeston, Tiplady, Mawn, Bottesi, & Thwaites on the types of behavior of people in a pandemic situation can be a confirmation of our result on the connection of experiencing uncertainty with programming. The authors distinguish among others the following unconstructive behavioral strategies used to reduce anxiety: attempts in various ways to achieve certainty in uncertain situations and thereby reduce one's own state of uncertainty; motivated avoidance of uncertainty; impulsive behavior aimed at immediately eliminating the uncertainty of the result; hesitation and doubt in choosing behavioral strategies and constant switching between them ^[12]. In our opinion, these and other behavioral strategies allow us to occasionally reduce anxiety tension, but do not contribute to compensating for the entire regulatory style.

The parameters of self-regulation can change for the same person depending on how he perceives the situation: difficult or simple, pleasant or unpleasant, resource-based or uncompromising. The subject correlates the assessment and objective requirements of the situation, determining for himself the conditions for achieving the goal, forms and methods of controlling the result. Since uncertainty violates the objectivity of the perception of the situation, modeling as a conscious regulatory mechanism becomes narrow: activity is directed only to making decisions about coping with uncertainty. The alarm functionality is ambivalent at the same time. On the one hand, it reinforces the perception of the need to cope with the uncertainty of the situation, and on the other, it raises doubts and uncertainty about the independence of the developed models. Most often, this contradiction determines the reason for seeking psychological help.

ConclusionSummarizing the research data, we define anxiety in a situation of uncertainty as a predictor of the regulatory activity of psychological counseling clients.

Its influence explains violations in the system of planning, modeling, programming of its activities and in evaluating the results obtained. The emotionally disturbing reflection of the situation as uncertain and the cognitive assessment of oneself in it necessitates the organization of assistance aimed at correcting the system of conscious self-regulation.

The results obtained seem to us sufficient for the subsequent development of techniques for restructuring cognitive response to the stimuli of the situation, namely, increasing competence by independently limiting the structural elements of the situation and giving them a specific meaning. We also believe that increasing tolerance to uncertainty will become a condition for reducing anxiety, against which our own coping models will be perceived as appropriate to achieve the goal, and behavior programs will include elements of creative processing of information.