Exposure therapy is a major treatment option used by clinicians to help patients face and get past their distressing and impairing fears. However, the fears can return in as many as 50% of patients.
University of Colorado researchers recently published a study that presents groundbreaking behavioral health models. Boosted by an AB Nexus grant, the study showed that fears are likely to linger because fear memories outlast competing safety memories gained in exposure therapy.
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About AB Nexus AB Nexus, an initiative launched in 2020, has provided $2M to 30 collaborative intercampus teams that feature scientists, engineers and physicians at CU Boulder and the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. The program has proven to be a catalyst for bringing researchers together to tackle innovative projects, enabling them to gather data needed for success in their pursuit of extramural funding from NIH and other funding agencies. |
In the following Q&A, Joel Stoddard, MD, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, explains where our fears come from and how the new research and mathematical modeling will help strengthen exposure therapy, based on the individual patient’s experience. He also explains how the research was made possible by strong collaboration across two University of Colorado campuses with Sarah Kennedy, PhD, and Sam Paskewitz, PhD, at CU Anschutz and Matt Jones, PhD, at CU Boulder.