01475nas a2200205 4500000000100000008004100001260007600042653001900118653001800137653003400155653002000189100002300209700002200232245006000254300001200314490000600326520090900332022001401241020001401255 1997 d c07/1997bSociedad Española para el Estudio de la Ansiedad y el Estrés10apanic disorder10aSocial phobia10aobsessive-compulsive disorder10aSpecific phobia1 aMichael W. Eysenck1 aNazanin Derakshan00aA cognitive theoretical framework for anxiety disorders a121-1340 v33 aThe four-factor theory of anxiety (Eysenck, 1997; Eysenck & Derakshan, submitted) has at its centre the assumption that experienced anxiety depends on four sources of information: (1) environmental stimuli; (2) one s own physiological activity; (3) one s own behaviour; and (4) one s own cognitions. The influence of each source of information on experienced anxiety is modified by cognitive biases, of which the most important is interpretive bias (the tendency to interpret ambiguous stimuli and events in a threatening fashion). It is assumed that four of the main anxiety disorders (panic disorder; social phobia; obsessive-compulsive disorder; specific phobia) involve an interpretive bias mainly for one of the four sources of information, and that generalized anxiety disorder involves an interpretive bias for all four sources. Therapeutic implications of this theoretical approach are discussed. a1134-7937 a2174-0437