Preventative and restorative safety behaviors: Effects on exposure treatment outcomes and risk for future anxious symptoms.

Objectives: Two studies investigated the differential effect of preventative and restorative safety behaviors on the treatment and development of anxiety and depression.

Method: Study 1 investigated the impact of preventative and restorative safety behaviors in prolonged exposure therapy among US veterans with PTSD (N = 95). Study 2 was a 3-month prospective study investigating preventative and restorative safety behaviors as risk factors for anxious and depressive symptoms in a non-clinical sample (N = 84).

Results: The results of Study 1 showed that both preventative and restorative safety behaviors were associated with worse treatment outcomes (both PTSD symptoms and depressive symptoms). The results of Study 2 found that preventative, but not restorative, safety behaviors predicted increases in future anxious symptoms. Neither preventative nor restorative safety behaviors conferred risk for increases in future depression symptoms (anhedonia).

Conclusions: Preventative and restorative safety behaviors impact PTSD treatment outcomes, while only preventative safety behaviors predict future anxiety.