Psychological dread and extreme persistent fear.

Psychological dread is a phenomenon with which virtually everyone is familiar, whether dreading a medical appointment, a job interview, or the impending death of a loved one. Despite the prevalence of dread in most people's everyday lives, surprisingly little empirical research has explored the construct. The purpose of the current research was to examine psychological dread (Study 1 and Study 2) and to compare dread to extreme persistent fear (Study 2).