Optimizing Exposure Therapy for Anxiety Disorders: An Inhibitory Learning and Inhibitory Regulation Approach

Exposure-based cognitive-behavioral therapy is the treatment of choice for anxiety disorders. Unfortunately, many individuals fail to benefit from treatment or demonstrate a return of fear. Inhibitory learning and inhibitory regulation models provide a parsimonious and unifying framework from which to situate exposure therapy and provide useful strategies to augment exposure therapy, especially as individuals with anxiety disorders show inhibitory deficits. This paper provides an overview of our application of inhibitory learning from the science of extinction, and inhibitory regulation from the neuroscience of emotion regulation, to exposure therapy for anxiety disorders.