The relationship between repetitive negative thinking, sleep disturbance, and subjective fatigue in women with Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

Women with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) have elevated fatigue and repetitive negative thinking (RNT), and poorer self-reported sleep quality, relative to women without GAD. Whereas sleep quality only partially accounts for elevated fatigue in GAD, RNT fully accounts for elevated fatigue, and the relationship between RNT and fatigue is fully accounted for by sleep quality. These findings provide novel evidence that women with GAD may have elevated fatigue because of the detrimental effects of RNT on sleep. These findings suggest that targeting RNT in treatment for GAD may help to reduce fatigue in GAD, by improving sleep quality.