Cognitive Avoidance Questionnaire
Cognitive Avoidance Questionnaire

CAQ

Cognitive Avoidance Questionnaire (CAQ)

The Cognitive Avoidance Questionnaire (CAQ) is designed to assess an individual's tendency to use cognitive avoidance strategies to manage stressful thoughts or situations. It is a useful tool for psychologists seeking to understand avoidance mechanisms in their patients, which are often observed in anxiety and depressive disorders.

Number of questions
25 questions
Estimated duration
6 minutes
Language
English
Original name
Cognitive Avoidance Questionnaire
Target audience
Adults
Authors
Gosselin, P., Langlois, F., Freeston, M. H., Ladouceur, R., Dugas, M. J., & Pelletier (2002)
Category
Anxiety, General

Preview of the 25 questions

Scoring & interpretation

Scoring

Total score: 70/125

Subscales:

- Thought substitution: 12/25

Tendency to replace an unwanted thought with another one judged more neutral or positive.

- Transformation of images into thoughts: 13/25

Recasting mental images as verbal thoughts to soften their emotional impact.

- Distraction: 16/25

Using mental or behavioral activities to turn attention away from anxious or disturbing thoughts.

- Avoidance of threatening stimuli: 18/25

Tendency to avoid situations, objects or memories tied to emotional content perceived as threatening.

- Thought suppression: 11/25

Deliberate effort to actively push certain thoughts out of awareness.

Each item is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 means never and 5 always. A high score reflects a greater level of cognitive avoidance.

The questionnaire comprises 5 subscales:

  • Thought substitution (items 4, 11, 17, 20, 25)
  • Transformation of images into thoughts (items 3, 15, 19, 23, 24)
  • Distraction (items 8, 10, 12, 13, 21)
  • Avoidance of threatening stimuli (items 7, 9, 16, 18, 22)
  • Thought suppression (items 1, 2, 5, 6, 14)

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