Measuring Thought Control Strategies: The Thought Control Questionnaire and a Look Beyond

The Thought Control Questionnaire (TCQ) by Wells and Davies represents a unique measure of habitual strategies to control one's unwanted thoughts, but its psychometric properties have not yet been exhaustively tested. Study 1 assessed 108 nonclinical participants. The relative independence of the five factors constituting the TCQ was confirmed although reliability was unsatisfactory. In Study 2, a clinical sample (n = 208) comprising various anxiety disorders and a healthy control group were investigated. Reliability of the TCQ was again insufficient. Previously found associations with psychopathological variables could be replicated, the TCQ not being specifically linked to single mental disorders or cognitive processes, namely worrying, but rather to psychopathology in general. Implications for a revision of the TCQ and the measurement of thought control strategies in general are discussed.