Social Phobia: The Role of in-Situation Safety Behaviors in Maintaining Anxiety and Negative Beliefs
Social Phobia: The Role of in-Situation Safety Behaviors in Maintaining Anxiety and Negative Beliefs is a journal article by Adrian Wells, David M. Clark, Paul Salkovskis, John Ludgate, Ann Hackmann, Michael Gelder (1995 in its publication record; cited on IX Coach as 1990 / 1998 / 1999), published in Behavior Therapy. IX Coach's practice library cites it in 10 practices across 8 concepts; each one is listed below, so you can see exactly where this journal article is put to use.
Where to find it
Practices on IX Coach that cite Social Phobia
- Dropping Safety Behaviors Within Experiments
Remove the subtle avoidance strategies (safety behaviors) that prevent experiments from genuinely testing the belief.
Behavioral Experiments: Testing Beliefs in the Real World
- Situational attentional refocusing: shift from self to situation
In anxiety-provoking situations, actively redirect attention outward — to the task, the other person, the environment.
Metacognitive Therapy, Made Practical
- Redirect from self-focus to external attention
When anxiety spikes, deliberately anchor attention to a specific external sound or object.
Attention Training Technique (ATT), Made Practical
- Shift to task-focused attention under performance anxiety
Redirect attention from self-monitoring and outcome worry to the specific process cues of the task at hand.
Attentional Deployment, Made Practical
- External focus: redirect attention away from bodily sensations
Shift attention outward during anxiety to disrupt the monitoring loop that amplifies sensations.
The Clark Panic Model, Made Practical
- Train flexible attention
Practise deliberately moving attention between external cues and internal experience — and back.
Detached Mindfulness, Made Practical
- Attention training technique (ATT)
Practice deliberately shifting attention across sounds — a drill that builds attention flexibility and reduces self-focus.
- Conduct a post-panic review to counter catastrophic memory
After every attack, record what actually happened — because anxiety memory is biased toward danger.
Panic Surfing
- Run a disconfirmation experiment without the safety behavior
Enter the feared situation without the safety behavior and observe what actually happens.
Safety Behavior Fading, Made Practical
- Reduce covert mental safety behaviors
Identify and fade the mental acts — rehearsing, planning, distraction — that serve the same function as overt avoidance.
How this page was checked
- The citation was matched to its Crossref record, and the title, authors and year above are taken from that record — not written by us.
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