ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 describes a flexible, comprehensive model of anxiety and its treatment, illustrated with diagrams. The model discusses five anxiety triggers, factors that predispose clients to develop anxiety or that trigger clinical or subsyndromal anxiety symptoms. The anxiety triggers include genetic predisposition, chemical or biochemical influences, external stress, negative self-talk and/or unrealistic self-demands, and unhelpful lesson from past events that the client experienced, observed, or heard about. These triggers activate physiological, emotional, and cognitive responses which, in turn, result in fear-motivated behaviors that create and maintain a vicious cycle of anxiety. Using this anxiety cycle model helps therapists make differential diagnoses and structure treatment, including when and how to use virtual reality. This model also helps clients understand how their personal experiences fit the cycle of anxiety, normalizes clients’ experiences, and makes it easier for clients to understand the rationale behind treatment interventions like exposure therapy and eliminating safety behaviors.
