Hornstein Erica A, Eisenberger Naomi I
Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, 1285 Franz Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
J Psychiatr Brain Sci. 2021;6. doi: 10.20900/jpbs.20210010. Epub 2021 Jun 28.
Reminders of loved ones have long been avoided during extinction-based treatments because of their assumed status as safety signals, which, by inhibiting fear in the moment, impair the long-term outcomes of fear extinction. Yet, recent work has demonstrated that in contrast to standard safety signals, social support reminders actually enhance fear extinction and lead to lasting reduction of fear, suggesting that they may have beneficial effects during exposure therapy that have before-now been overlooked. Here, we argue for a revision of the assumption that social support is detrimental to fear extinction processes and propose that future work should focus on the potential of social support reminders to improve treatment outcomes in those with anxiety disorders.
长期以来，在基于消退的治疗中，人们一直避免提及所爱的人，因为他们被认为是安全信号，而这会在当下抑制恐惧，从而损害恐惧消退的长期效果。然而，最近的研究表明，与标准安全信号不同，社会支持提示实际上会增强恐惧消退，并导致恐惧的持续减少，这表明它们在暴露疗法中可能具有以前被忽视的有益效果。在此，我们主张修正社会支持对恐惧消退过程有害的假设，并建议未来的研究应关注社会支持提示在改善焦虑症患者治疗效果方面的潜力。
