title: An experimental investigation of the role of safety-seeking behaviours in the maintenance of panic disorder with agoraphobia.
abstract: This study evaluates the hypothesis that safety-seeking behaviours play an important role in maintaining anxiety because they prevent patients from benefiting from disconfirmatory experience. Patients suffering from panic disorder with agoraphobia carried out a behaviour test, closely followed by an experimental session, which included a brief (15 min) period of exposure during which participants either stopped or maintained within-situation safety-seeking behaviours. When the behaviour test was repeated within two days, patients who had stopped their safety-seeking behaviours during the experimental session showed a significantly greater decrease in catastrophic beliefs and anxiety than those who had maintained safety-seeking behaviour. This difference was also reflected in questionnaires measuring clinical anxiety. These results are consistent with the cognitive hypothesis.
authors.affiliation: University of Oxford, Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, UK.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Salkovskis
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hackmann
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wells
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Gelder
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000379:Agoraphobia / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D001290:Attitude; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000145:classification*; D003887:Desensitization, Psychologic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010200:Panic / Q000145:classification; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales