High current anxiety symptoms, but not a past anxiety disorder diagnosis, are associated with impaired fear extinction.

Although impaired fear extinction has repeatedly been demonstrated in patients with anxiety disorders, little is known about whether these impairments persist after treatment. The current comparative exploratory study investigated fear extinction in 26 patients treated for their anxiety disorder in...

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Main Authors: Puck eDuits, Danielle C. eCath, Ivo eHeitland, Johanna M. P. eBaas
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2016-02-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00252/full
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author Puck eDuits
Puck eDuits
Danielle C. eCath
Danielle C. eCath
Ivo eHeitland
Ivo eHeitland
Johanna M. P. eBaas
Johanna M. P. eBaas
author_facet Puck eDuits
Puck eDuits
Danielle C. eCath
Danielle C. eCath
Ivo eHeitland
Ivo eHeitland
Johanna M. P. eBaas
Johanna M. P. eBaas
author_sort Puck eDuits
collection DOAJ
description Although impaired fear extinction has repeatedly been demonstrated in patients with anxiety disorders, little is known about whether these impairments persist after treatment. The current comparative exploratory study investigated fear extinction in 26 patients treated for their anxiety disorder in the years preceding the study as compared to 17 healthy control subjects. Fear-potentiated startle and subjective fear were measured in a cue and context fear conditioning paradigm within a virtual reality environment. Results indicated no differences in fear extinction between treated anxiety patients and control subjects. However, scores on the Beck Anxiety Inventory across all participants revealed impaired extinction of fear potentiated startle in subjects with high compared to low anxiety symptoms over the past week. Taken together, this exploratory study found no support for impaired fear extinction in treated anxiety patients, and implies that current anxiety symptoms rather than previous patient status determine the success of extinction.
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spelling doaj.art-913203fa07a647c488014a67e557b0872022-12-21T19:12:48ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782016-02-01710.3389/fpsyg.2016.00252163781High current anxiety symptoms, but not a past anxiety disorder diagnosis, are associated with impaired fear extinction.Puck eDuits0Puck eDuits1Danielle C. eCath2Danielle C. eCath3Ivo eHeitland4Ivo eHeitland5Johanna M. P. eBaas6Johanna M. P. eBaas7Utrecht UniversityAltrecht Academic Anxiety CentreUtrecht UniversityAltrecht Academic Anxiety CentreUtrecht UniversityHelmholtz Research InstituteUtrecht UniversityHelmholtz Research InstituteAlthough impaired fear extinction has repeatedly been demonstrated in patients with anxiety disorders, little is known about whether these impairments persist after treatment. The current comparative exploratory study investigated fear extinction in 26 patients treated for their anxiety disorder in the years preceding the study as compared to 17 healthy control subjects. Fear-potentiated startle and subjective fear were measured in a cue and context fear conditioning paradigm within a virtual reality environment. Results indicated no differences in fear extinction between treated anxiety patients and control subjects. However, scores on the Beck Anxiety Inventory across all participants revealed impaired extinction of fear potentiated startle in subjects with high compared to low anxiety symptoms over the past week. Taken together, this exploratory study found no support for impaired fear extinction in treated anxiety patients, and implies that current anxiety symptoms rather than previous patient status determine the success of extinction.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00252/fullAnxietyFear conditioningextinctioncontextstartlecue
spellingShingle Puck eDuits
Puck eDuits
Danielle C. eCath
Danielle C. eCath
Ivo eHeitland
Ivo eHeitland
Johanna M. P. eBaas
Johanna M. P. eBaas
High current anxiety symptoms, but not a past anxiety disorder diagnosis, are associated with impaired fear extinction.
Frontiers in Psychology
Anxiety
Fear conditioning
extinction
context
startle
cue
title High current anxiety symptoms, but not a past anxiety disorder diagnosis, are associated with impaired fear extinction.
title_full High current anxiety symptoms, but not a past anxiety disorder diagnosis, are associated with impaired fear extinction.
title_fullStr High current anxiety symptoms, but not a past anxiety disorder diagnosis, are associated with impaired fear extinction.
title_full_unstemmed High current anxiety symptoms, but not a past anxiety disorder diagnosis, are associated with impaired fear extinction.
title_short High current anxiety symptoms, but not a past anxiety disorder diagnosis, are associated with impaired fear extinction.
title_sort high current anxiety symptoms but not a past anxiety disorder diagnosis are associated with impaired fear extinction
topic Anxiety
Fear conditioning
extinction
context
startle
cue
url http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00252/full
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