Distraction/Suppression and Distress Endurance diminish the extent to which generalized conditioned fear is associated with maladaptive behavioral avoidance

Emotional and Behavioral Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Health Anxiety, Intolerance of Uncertainty, and Distress (In)Tolerance

“…Contrary to our hypotheses, no "interpretable" moderating effect of distress intolerance and intolerance of uncertainty on the association between health anxiety (pre and during COVID-19) and SARS-CoV-2 related anxiety and behavior was shown. In relation to conditional effects, an intensifying effect of distress intolerance on SARS-CoV-2 related avoidance behavior was found, which is consistent with other results on the association of avoidance behavior and distress (in)tolerance [32,45]. Although we observed conditional (marginally) significant effects of distress intolerance and intolerance of uncertainty on reassurance behavior (for intolerance of uncertainty only an association with reassurance behavior in relation to other diseases was shown), the direction of these effects was partly inconclusive which complicates interpretation.…”

“…They attempt to avoid aversive emotional states or feel “absorbed by the presence of distressing emotions” [ 43 ] (p. 84). Distress (in)tolerance is associated with psychopathology of many mental disorders (e.g., anxiety disorders [ 44 ]), and is linked with the use of avoidance behavior [ 32 , 45 ]. Fergus et al [ 46 ] observed an association of intolerance of negative emotions (in combination with intolerance of uncertainty and intolerance of physical discomfort) with health anxiety.…”

Avoidance and decision making in anxiety: An introduction to the special issue

“…More specifically, they demonstrate that the endurance of avoidance in the face of Pavlovian threat extinction may critically depend on the initial reinforcement rate of avoidance behaviour. In a similar spirit, Hunt et al [this issue] in the final contribution of the special issue provide seminal evidence for the particular role that trait differences in the willingness to endure distress and in the tendency to cope by means of suppression or distraction play in whether and when physiological fear responses give rise to deliberate avoidance, particular in response to generalized threat cues. In combination, the nine articles in the special issue provide a number of specific contributions to theoretical refinement of our understanding of avoidance in the context of anxiety and principled and testable suggestions for improvement in the clinical management of avoidance and anxiety.…”

Advancing Research on Mechanisms of Resilience (Armor) Longitudinal Cohort Study of New Military Recruits: Results From a Feasibility Pilot Study

“…Finally, behavioral flexibility involves the ability to establish and maintain patterns of behavior in pursuit of adaptive outcomes based on shifting environmental demands. Studies using laboratory based paradigms have found these self-regulatory processes correlate with trait resiliency measures (Schafer et al, 2015) while hypothesizing protective stress-buffering effects on outcomes (Bardeen & Orcutt, 2011;Hunt et al, 2017;Johnson & Tottenham, 2015). Although the neurophysiological correlates of selfregulation are increasingly appreciated (Gehring & Willoughby, 2002), the potential utility of similar behavior-based laboratory paradigms of self-regulation with respect to longitudinal studies of resilience is underexplored.…”