Worry Promotes Feelings of Authenticity for People High in Internalizing Symptoms

Abstract

Feeling “authentic” is typically seen as a positive psychological phenomenon. However, in disordered states, certain maladaptive behaviors might feel “true to oneself.” Across five studies, we tested whether people high in internalizing symptoms may feel more authentic when worrying. Studies 1 and 2 ( Ns = 349 and 225, respectively) were longitudinal and revealed that people high but not low in internalizing symptoms reported greater authenticity when worrying more about finances and COVID-19, respectively. In Study 3 ( N = 375), academic worry predicted authenticity for undergraduates high but not low in internalizing. Studies 4 and 5 (combined N = 1,158) were preregistered experiments. Participants high in depression reported greater authenticity when worrying rather than reframing a problem. These results challenge typical views of authenticity as uniformly associated with positive psychological processes and invite future research into whether authenticity plays a role in the persistence of maladaptive behaviors in depression and anxiety.