Avoidance and escape: Defensive reactivity and trait anxiety

Abstract

Although avoidance and escape behaviors each contribute to maintaining anxiety disorders, only avoidance completely eliminates exposure to the aversive context. Current research compared anticipatory defensive engagement when aversion could either be completely avoided or escaped after initial exposure; in addition, this research examined the impact of trait anxiety on coping-related defensive engagement. Cues signaled that upcoming rapid action would avoid (block), escape (terminate), or not affect subsequent aversive exposure; the acoustic startle reflex was measured during each anticipatory interval to index defensive engagement, and blink magnitudes were compared across low-, moderate-, and high-anxious individuals. For all participants, startle was potentiated when aversive exposure was uncontrollable and attenuated when aversion was avoidable. On escape trials, on the other hand, startle potentiation increased with rising participant anxiety. Results suggest 1) defensive engagement is generally reduced in avoidance contexts relative to contexts in which exposure is certain, and; 2) trait anxiety increases defensive engagement specifically when aversive exposure can be controlled but remains certain.

Pain by mistake: investigating a link between error-related negativity and pain avoidance behavior

“…In particular, the healthy participants in this study might not have perceived the pain stimuli to be as salient and threatening as would persons with chronic pain. Finally, several psychosocial variables are known to influence avoidance, for instance, anxiety, 31,53 intolerance of uncertainty, 12 as well as the presence of competing goals 3,63 or social threat, 28 which could have moderated the postulated ERN-avoidance relationship, warranting further examination.…”

The relationship between worry and attentional bias to threat cues signalling controllable and uncontrollable dangers

“…Future research may also be interested in assessing the duration of one’s worry, as those who experience worry that does not have utility may be characterised by worry that persists for a longer duration [ 69 ]. Future research may examine the relationship between worry and attentional bias to uncontrollable threats vs controllable threats that can either be avoided or escaped, as avoidance and escape behaviours may contribute to different worry [ 70 ]. In addition, future research may examine the current hypothesis using measures of attentional bias that are time sensitive, such as event-related potentials [ 71 , 72 ], as differences in one’s ability to divert attention away from threat may also contribute to individual differences in the experience of worry.…”

School anxiety profiles in Spanish adolescents and their differences in psychopathological symptoms

“…It is important to highlight that the psychophysiological and behavioral components predominated in this group of students, with standardized means over 2.5 for both response systems. In this regard, adolescents grouped into Excessive School Anxiety should receive techniques of treatment specially focused on reducing psychophysiological responses such as muscle tension or respiratory rate, and behavioral responses like avoidance or motor restlessness [51,52]. Furthermore, these students, in comparison with those grouped into High School Anxiety, have the same severity of eight in nine psychopathological symptoms (i.e., depression, hostility, interpersonal sensitivity, somatization, anxiety, psychoticism, obsessive-compulsive, and paranoid ideation) and are characterized by higher phobic anxiety.…”