Lesson 2 of 6 · The false alarm
The relief is real, and that is the trouble
When you leave, or check, or ask someone to tell you it is fine, the discomfort genuinely drops. Usually within a few minutes. That part is not imaginary.
That drop is a reward, and it teaches your system two things at the same time. That the danger was real. And that the escape is what saved you.
So the alarm gets more sensitive rather than less, and the list of things that set it off grows. There is nothing weak or faithless in this. It is a learning system doing exactly what learning systems do, pointed at the wrong thing.
What the research says
People who faced a feared situation without their safety behaviours came away less anxious and believing the catastrophe less than people who kept them. The precautions are what keep the fear intact.
People who faced a feared situation while dropping their safety behaviours came away believing the catastrophe less, and less anxious, than people who faced the same situation while keeping them. The escape is what protects the belief.
Salkovskis PM, Clark DM, Hackmann A, Wells A, Gelder MG (1999). An experimental investigation of the role of safety-seeking behaviours in the maintenance of panic disorder with agoraphobia. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 37(6), 559 to 574 doi
Avoidance is rewarded by relief, and relief teaches just as reliably as a reward does. That is why avoiding works so well in the moment and costs so much over a year.
Avoidance is held in place by relief. Removing something unpleasant rewards the behaviour that removed it just as reliably as a gain would.
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