Effects of Verbal Instructions on Fear Extinction and Extinction Retrieval

The goal of this study is to examine if verbal instructions can improve fear extinction learning and extinction retrieval in patients with anxiety disorders (AD) and healthy controls.

Inclusion Criteria:For the patient group: DSM-5 anxiety disorder diagnosis via a structured clinical interview for diagnosing mental disorders (DIPS)For the healthy controls: no psychological disorder according to the Mini-DIPSExclusion Criteria:smokingalcohol abusedrug consumptioncurrent and chronic physical and neurological diseasesfor the patient group: anxiety not the primary diagnosis, psychological comorbidities e.g. schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, mental retardation, acute drug or alcohol addiction, personality disorder, currently in psychotherapyfor the healthy controls: a diagnosis of psychological disorder at any point in life, ever been in psychotherapy, current and/or regular intake of medicine (incl. psychopharmaceutic medicine), current or past cognitive or neurological disorderfor women: pregnancy, nursing periodprevious experience with fear conditioning paradigm