Safety behaviors (anxiety)
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Safety behaviors (also known as safety-seeking behaviors) are coping behaviors used to reduce anxiety and fear when the user feels threatened.[1] An example of a safety behavior in social anxiety is to think of excuses to escape a potentially uncomfortable situation.[2] These safety behaviors, although useful for reducing anxiety in the short term, might become maladaptive over the long term by prolonging anxiety and fear of nonthreatening situations.[1][3] This problem is commonly experienced in anxiety disorders.[4] Treatments such as exposure and response prevention focus on eliminating safety behaviors due to the detrimental role safety behaviors have in mental disorders.[5][6] There is a disputed claim that safety behaviors can be beneficial to use during the early stages of treatment.[7]