Table 9 Components of cognitive behavioral interventions
Exposure | • Encourage patients to face fears • Patients learn corrective information through experience • Extinction of fear occurs through repeated exposure • Successful coping enhances self-efficacy |
Safety response inhibition | • Patients restrict their usual anxiety-reducing behaviors (e.g., escape, need for reassurance) • Decreases negative reinforcement • Coping with anxiety without using anxiety-reducing behavior enhances self-efficacy |
Cognitive strategies | • Cognitive restructuring, behavioral experiments, and related strategies target patients’ exaggerated perception of danger (e.g., fear of negative evaluation in SAD) • Provides corrective information regarding the level of threat • Can also target self-efficacy beliefs |
Arousal management | • Relaxation and breathing control skills can help patient control increased anxiety levels |
Surrender of safety signals | • Patient relinquishes safety signals (e.g., presence of a companion, knowledge of the location of the nearest toilet) • Patients learn adaptive self-efficacy beliefs |