Journal
ANNUAL REVIEW OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, VOL 9
Volume 9, Issue -, Pages 215-248Publisher
ANNUAL REVIEWS
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-050212-185542
Keywords
Pavlovian conditioning; learning theory; memory retrieval; anxiety treatment; translational research; relapse prevention
Categories
Funding
- Center for Excellence on Generalization Research (GRIP*TT
- KU Leuven) [PF/10/005]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Exposure-based treatments for clinical anxiety generally are very effective, but relapse is not uncommon. Likewise, laboratory studies have shown that conditioned fears are easy to extinguish, but they recover easily. This analogy is striking, and numerous fear extinction studies have been published that highlight the processes responsible for the extinction and return of acquired fears. This review examines and integrates the most important results from animal and human work. Overall, the results suggest that fear extinction is relatively easy to learn but difficult to remember. It follows that treatments will benefit from an enhanced focus on the long-term retrieval of fear extinction. We review the available studies on the prevention of return of fear and the prospects of weakening fear memories forever. We show that the behavioral principles outlined in learning theory provide a continuous inspiration for preclinical (neurobiological) and clinical research on the extinction and return of fear.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available