@phdthesis{Steinhaeuser2011,
  author    = {Steinh{\"a}user, Nina},
  title     = {Die Rolle von Sicherheitsverhalten in der Expositionstherapie bei Panikst{\"o}rung mit Agoraphobie - Moderatoren, Mediatoren und Pr{\"a}diktoren},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-69814},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {Zusammenfassung Gegenstand der vorliegenden Arbeit ist die Rolle von Sicherheitsverhalten in der Expositionstherapie von Panikst{\"o}rung mit Agoraphobie. Neu an dieser Arbeit ist, dass die Ausgangslage des Patienten bez{\"u}glich des zu Therapiebeginn gezeigten Vermeidungsverhaltens, welches wiederum das in den Expositionen gezeigte Sicherheitsverhalten moderieren sollte, einbezogen wurde. Neben der Kl{\"a}rung dieser spezifischen Variablen sollten weitere Moderatoren, Mediatoren und Pr{\"a}diktoren f{\"u}r Sicherheitsverhalten bzw. Therapieergebnis identifiziert werden. Hierf{\"u}r wurde in dieser Studie erstmals die Wirkung von Faktoren wie Therapeutenbegleitung, Angst vor K{\"o}rpersymptomen und Ver{\"a}nderungen kognitiver Prozesse auf Sicherheitsverhalten und Therapieergebnis mit Hilfe von Pfadanalysemodellen untersucht. Erwartungsangst und das Ausmaß der Depression zu Therapiebeginn wurden als Kovariate einbezogen. In die Berechnungen wurden nach Ausschluss der Drop-Outs N = 242 Patienten eingeschlossen. Nach den in dieser Arbeit durchgef{\"u}hrten Analysen sind weder das Ausmaß der Vermeidung zu Therapiebeginn noch die Therapeutenbegleitung w{\"a}hrend der Expositionen Pr{\"a}diktoren f{\"u}r Sicherheitsverhalten. Es konnte zudem in den berechneten Pfadanalysemodellen kein signifikanter Zusammenhang zwischen Sicherheitsverhalten und Therapieergebnis gezeigt werden. Stattdessen weisen die hier gefundenen Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass sowohl die Reduktion der Angst vor K{\"o}rpersymptomen als auch die Ver{\"a}nderung kognitiver Prozesse signifikant mit dem Therapieergebnis korrelieren. Hinsichtlich der einbezogenen Kovariaten zeigte sich, dass ein positiver Zusammenhang zwischen Erwartungsangst und Sicherheitsverhalten besteht und das Ausmaß der Depression zu Therapiebeginn wie erwartet keinen Einfluss auf Sicherheitsverhalten und Therapieergebnis hatte. Insgesamt best{\"a}tigen die hier gefundenen Ergebnisse, dass insbesondere die Reduktion der Angst vor K{\"o}rpersymptomen und die Ver{\"a}nderung kognitiver Prozesse wichtige Elemente der Expositionstherapie sind und diese somit grunds{\"a}tzlich einen wirkungsvollen Zugang zur Behandlung von Panikst{\"o}rung mit Agoraphobie darstellt. Die Analysen weisen darauf hin, dass Sicherheitsverhalten entgegen den Erwartungen dabei eine eher untergeordnete Rolle zu spielen scheint. Dies sollte in weiterf{\"u}hrenden Studien gekl{\"a}rt werden, wobei Sicherheitsverhalten insbesondere unter dem in dieser Arbeit aufgezeigten definitions- bzw. st{\"o}rungs-spezifischen Blickwinkel untersucht werden sollte.},
  subject      = {Agoraphobie},
  language  = {de}
}
@phdthesis{Schwarzmeier2023,
  author    = {Schwarzmeier, Hanna},
  title     = {From fear extinction to exposure therapy: neural mechanisms and moderators of extinction},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-22330},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-223304},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {Emotional-associative learning processes such as fear conditioning and extinction are highly relevant to not only the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders (ADs), but also to their treatment. Extinction, as the laboratory analogue to behavioral exposure, is assumed a core process underlying the treatment of ADs. Although exposure-based treatments are highly effective for the average patient suffering from an AD, there remains a gap in treatment efficacy with over one third of patients failing to achieve clinically significant symptom relief. There is ergo a pressing need for intensified research regarding the underlying neural mechanisms of aberrant emotional-associative learning processes and the neurobiological moderators of treatment (non-)response in ADs. The current thesis focuses on different applications of the fundamental principles of fear conditioning and extinction by using two example cases of ADs from two different multicenter trials. First, we targeted alterations in fear acquisition, extinction, and its recall as a function of psychopathology in panic disorder (PD) patients compared to healthy subjects using fMRI. Second, exposure-based therapy and pre-treatment patient characteristics exerting a moderating influence on this essential learning process later on (i.e. treatment outcome) were examined using multimodal functional and structural neuroimaging in spider phobia. We observed aberrations in emotional-associative learning processes in PD patients compared to healthy subjects indicated by an accelerated fear acquisition and an attenuated extinction recall. Furthermore, pre-treatment differences related to defensive, regulatory, attentional, and perceptual processes may exert a moderating influence on treatment outcome to behavioral exposure in spider phobia. Although the current results need further replication, on an integrative meta level, results point to a hyperactive defensive network system and deficient emotion regulation processes (including extinction processes) and top-down control in ADs. This speaks in favor of transdiagnostic deficits in important functional domains in ADs. Deficits in transdiagnostic domains such as emotion regulation processes could be targeted by enhancing extinction learning or by means of promising tools like neurofeedback. The detection of pre-treatment clinical response moderators, for instance via machine learning frameworks, may help in supporting clinical decision making on individually tailored treatment approaches or, respectively, to avoid ineffective treatment and its related financial costs. In the long run, the identification of neurobiological markers which are capable of detecting non-responders a priori represents an ultimate goal.},
  subject      = {Extinktion},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{PittigHeinigGoerigketal.2021,
  author    = {Pittig, Andre and Heinig, Ingmar and Goerigk, Stephan and Thiel, Freya and Hummel, Katrin and Scholl, Lucie and Deckert, J{\"u}rgen and Pauli, Paul and Domschke, Katharina and Lueken, Ulrike and Fydrich, Thomas and Fehm, Lydia and Plag, Jens and Str{\"o}hle, Andreas and Kircher, Tilo and Straube, Benjamin and Rief, Winfried and Koelkebeck, Katja and Arolt, Volker and Dannlowski, Udo and Margraf, J{\"u}rgen and Totzeck, Christina and Schneider, Silvia and Neudeck, Peter and Craske, Michelle G. and Hollandt, Maike and Richter, Jan and Hamm, Alfons and Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich},
  title     = {Efficacy of temporally intensified exposure for anxiety disorders: A multicenter randomized clinical trial},
  series = {Depression and Anxiety},
  volume    = {38},
  journal   = {Depression and Anxiety},
  number    = {11},
  doi       = {10.1002/da.23204},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-257331},
  pages     = {1169-1181},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {Background The need to optimize exposure treatments for anxiety disorders may be addressed by temporally intensified exposure sessions. Effects on symptom reduction and public health benefits should be examined across different anxiety disorders with comorbid conditions. Methods This multicenter randomized controlled trial compared two variants of prediction error-based exposure therapy (PeEx) in various anxiety disorders (both 12 sessions + 2 booster sessions, 100 min/session): temporally intensified exposure (PeEx-I) with exposure sessions condensed to 2 weeks (n = 358) and standard nonintensified exposure (PeEx-S) with weekly exposure sessions (n = 368). Primary outcomes were anxiety symptoms (pre, post, and 6-months follow-up). Secondary outcomes were global severity (across sessions), quality of life, disability days, and comorbid depression. Results Both treatments resulted in substantial improvements at post (PeEx-I: d\(_{within}\) = 1.50, PeEx-S: d\(_{within}\) = 1.78) and follow-up (PeEx-I: d\(_{within}\) = 2.34; PeEx-S: d\(_{within}\) = 2.03). Both groups showed formally equivalent symptom reduction at post and follow-up. However, time until response during treatment was 32\% shorter in PeEx-I (median = 68 days) than PeEx-S (108 days; TR\(_{PeEx-I}\)-I = 0.68). Interestingly, drop-out rates were lower during intensified exposure. PeEx-I was also superior in reducing disability days and improving quality of life at follow-up without increasing relapse. Conclusions Both treatment variants focusing on the transdiagnostic exposure-based violation of threat beliefs were effective in reducing symptom severity and disability in severe anxiety disorders. Temporally intensified exposure resulted in faster treatment response with substantial public health benefits and lower drop-out during the exposure phase, without higher relapse. Clinicians can expect better or at least comparable outcomes when delivering exposure in a temporally intensified manner.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{DiemerAlpersPeperkornetal.2015,
  author    = {Diemer, Julia and Alpers, Georg W. and Peperkorn, Henrik M. and Shiban, Youssef and M{\"u}hlberger, Andreas},
  title     = {The impact of perception and presence on emotional reactions: a review of research in virtual reality},
  series = {Frontiers in Psychology},
  volume    = {6},
  journal   = {Frontiers in Psychology},
  number    = {26},
  doi       = {10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00026},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-144200},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Virtual reality (VR) has made its way into mainstream psychological research in the last two decades. This technology, with its unique ability to simulate complex, real situations and contexts, offers researchers unprecedented opportunities to investigate human behavior in well controlled designs in the laboratory. One important application of VR is the investigation of pathological processes in mental disorders, especially anxiety disorders. Research on the processes underlying threat perception, fear, and exposure therapy has shed light on more general aspects of the relation between perception and emotion. Being by its nature virtual, i.e., simulation of reality, VR strongly relies on the adequate selection of specific perceptual cues to activate emotions. Emotional experiences in turn are related to presence, another important concept in VR, which describes the user's sense of being in a VR environment. This paper summarizes current research into perception of fear cues, emotion, and presence, aiming at the identification of the most relevant aspects of emotional experience in VR and their mutual relations. A special focus lies on a series of recent experiments designed to test the relative contribution of perception and conceptual information on fear in VR. This strand of research capitalizes on the dissociation between perception (bottom up input) and conceptual information (top-down input) that is possible in VR. Further, we review the factors that have so far been recognized to influence presence, with emotions (e.g., fear) being the most relevant in the context of clinical psychology. Recent research has highlighted the mutual influence of presence and fear in VR, but has also traced the limits of our current understanding of this relationship. In this paper, the crucial role of perception on eliciting emotional reactions is highlighted, and the role of arousal as a basic dimension of emotional experience is discussed. An interoceptive attribution model of presence is suggested as a first step toward an integrative framework for emotion research in VR. Gaps in the current literature and future directions are outlined.},
  language  = {en}
}