Lesson 2 of 6 · The false alarm
How it holds itself in place
The alarm going off is not the problem. What happens in the seconds after it goes off is the problem. Follow the loop round once.
What the research says
What keeps anxiety going is not the alarm itself but what you do immediately afterwards to feel safe, because that is what stops the belief ever being tested. The alarm is not the problem to solve.
What keeps anxiety alive is not the alarm but what a person does straight afterwards to make themselves safe, because that is what stops the belief ever being tested.
Salkovskis PM (1991). The importance of behaviour in the maintenance of anxiety and panic: a cognitive account. Behavioural Psychotherapy, 19(1), 6 to 19 doi
An avoidance response outlives the danger that taught it, because it keeps being rewarded by relief and never gets the chance to fade. Nothing has gone wrong with you for it to still be there.
Reviews why an avoidance response outlives the danger that taught it. The response keeps being rewarded by relief, so it never gets the chance to fall away.
Krypotos AM, Effting M, Kindt M, Beckers T (2015). Avoidance learning: a review of theoretical models and recent developments. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 9, 189 doi