ABSTRACT
Many people dislike things like spiders and mice, but this only occasionally leads to extreme avoidance. Sometimes an avoidance response arises from a one-trial learning experience and sometimes it is repeated exposure to a lower-level threat. At other times avoidance can develop as a result of lower-level, but repeated, exposure to a stress-producing situation. Some avoidance behaviours are conditioned by seeing other people behave in particular ways. Fear of mice might seem less logical than fear of being bullied or ridiculed in public, but the bodily sensations and effects in terms of avoidance are the same. Avoidance is triggered by the flight response and removes us from the anxiety-provoking event. News coverage of anxiety-provoking situations – wars, road traffic accidents, abuse and stories of murders or burglaries – can act as triggers and add to people’s anxieties. It is important to consider whether the anxiety arises from a lack of skills to deal with the situation.
