title: The validity of laboratory-based treatment research: Bridging the gap between fear extinction and exposure treatment.
abstract: A major objective of experimental psychopathology research is to improve clinical practice via the experimental study of treatment mechanisms. The success of this endeavor depends on the external validity of the procedures used to model the treatment component in the laboratory. We propose a general framework and a set of specific criteria that will allow evaluating whether a certain laboratory procedure is a valid model for a certain clinical treatment. We illustrate this framework by evaluating the validity of extinction as a laboratory model for clinical exposure therapy. Although we acknowledge the merits of the extinction model, we argue that its validity might not be as firmly established as the research community assumes. We also use extinction as an example to demonstrate how considerations of the proposed criteria can stimulate further improvements to existing models of treatment. We conclude that the systematic assessment of external validity of treatment models is an important step towards bridging the gap between science and practice in the field of experimental psychopathology.
authors: Centre for Learning Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: Sara.Scheveneels@ppw.kuleuven.be.
authors: Sara
authors: S
authors: Scheveneels
authors: Centre for Learning Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: Yannick.Boddez@ppw.kuleuven.be.
authors: Yannick
authors: Y
authors: Boddez
authors: Centre for Learning Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: Bram.Vervliet@ppw.kuleuven.be.
authors: Bram
authors: B
authors: Vervliet
authors: Centre for Learning Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: Dirk.Hermans@ppw.kuleuven.be.
authors: Dirk
authors: D
authors: Hermans
mesh_terms: D035841:Behavioral Research / Q000379:methods*; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D005239:Fear; D006801:Humans; D007171:Implosive Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
keywords: Experimental psychopathology; Exposure therapy; Fear extinction; Return of fear; Translational research; Validity