An experimental investigation of the role of safety-seeking behaviours in the maintenance of panic disorder with agoraphobia.
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.
Salkovskis
P M
PM
University of Oxford, Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, UK.
Clark
D M
DM
Hackmann
A
A
Wells
A
A
Gelder
M G
MG
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