Experiential avoidance
The concept of experiential avoidance describes attempts to avoid thoughts, feelings, memories, physical sensations, and other internal experiences. This process often creates harm in the long run even when it seems helpful initially. The mechanism behind this behavior relies on negative reinforcement. Short-term relief of discomfort is achieved through avoidance. This temporary success increases the likelihood that the avoidance behavior will persist over time. Current conceptualization suggests that negative thoughts or emotions are not inherently problematic. How a person responds to these internal states causes difficulties instead. A habitual unwillingness to experience uncomfortable thoughts leads to wide-ranging problems. Deliberately choosing discomfort only results in simple discomfort without lasting damage.
Defense mechanisms were originally conceptualized as ways to avoid unpleasant affect resulting from conflicting motivations. These processes contributed to the expression of various types of psychopathology according to early theories. Gradual removal of these defensive processes became a key aspect of treatment returning patients to psychological health. Process-experiential therapy merges client-centered, existential, and Gestalt approaches into modern practice. Gestalt theory outlines benefits of being fully aware of one's entire experience. Psychotherapists explore grounds for avoidance leading patients back to what they wish to avoid. Early humanistic theory stated people should live their fears and discouragement completely rather than shutting them out. Traditional behavior therapy utilizes exposure to habituate patients to various types of fears and anxieties. Exposure involves individuals repeatedly encountering distressing elements until psychopathology reduces significantly. Cognitive theory argues avoidance interferes with reappraisals of negative thought patterns perpetuating distorted beliefs. Recent third-wave cognitive-behavioral modalities explicitly describe experiential avoidance including acceptance and commitment therapy. Dialectical behavior therapy and functional analytic psychotherapy also target this concept directly.
Seemingly disparate forms of pathological behavior can be understood by their common function attempting to avoid distress. Major depressive disorder manifests through isolation or suicide targeting feelings of sadness and guilt. Posttraumatic stress disorder involves avoiding trauma reminders while maintaining hypervigilance against memories and safety concerns. Social phobia drives individuals away from social situations due to anxiety about judgment from others. Panic disorder causes avoidance of situations that might induce panic alongside fear of physiological sensations. Agoraphobia restricts travel outside home or other safe areas driven by anxiety and fear of symptoms. Obsessive-compulsive disorder features checking rituals targeting worry of consequences like contamination. Substance use disorders involve abusing alcohol or drugs to escape emotions, memories, and withdrawal symptoms. Eating disorders manifest as restricting food intake or purging due to fear of becoming overweight. Borderline personality disorder includes self-harm behaviors like cutting to manage high emotional arousal levels. These examples demonstrate how diverse diagnoses share the underlying mechanism of distress avoidance.
Perhaps the most significant impact of experiential avoidance is its potential to disrupt valued aspects of life. Avoidance occurs at the expense of a person's deeply held values causing major interference. Putting off an important task because of discomfort evokes immediate relief but long-term loss. Not taking advantage of opportunities stems from attempts to avoid worries of failure or disappointment. Physical activity and meaningful hobbies remain unengaged due to effort demands they require. Social gatherings are avoided because of anxiety and negative thoughts they evoke in the moment. Individuals fail to connect with others due to scanning for signs of danger constantly. Relationships suffer when vulnerability feels too threatening to sustain close connections. Staying in bad relationships avoids discomfort, guilt, and loneliness a break-up might entail. Losing marriages or contact with children results from unwillingness to experience uncomfortable feelings through substance abuse. Attending graduations, weddings, funerals becomes impossible when anxiety or panic symptoms arise. Self-destructive behaviors emerge to avoid feelings of boredom, emptiness, or worthlessness. Basic responsibilities like personal hygiene or showing up to work go neglected due to distress.
Laboratory-based thought suppression studies suggest avoidance is paradoxical in nature. Concerted attempts at suppression of a particular thought often leads to an increase of that thought. Studies examining emotional suppression and pain suppression indicate avoidance is ineffective in the long run. Expressing unpleasant emotions can lead to improvements over time despite increasing negative reactions short term. Exposure-based therapy techniques have been shown effective in treating wide ranges of psychiatric disorders. Numerous self-report studies link experiential avoidance constructs to psychopathology and other forms of dysfunction. These findings challenge traditional assumptions about the utility of avoiding internal experiences. The data suggests that fighting against thoughts creates more problems than facing them directly. Researchers observe that sustained effort to suppress specific mental content backfires consistently across experiments.
The Acceptance and Action Questionnaire was the first self-report measure explicitly designed to measure experiential avoidance. This tool has since been re-conceptualized as a measure of psychological flexibility instead. The 62-item Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire developed to measure different aspects of EA exists today. The Brief Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire is a 15-item measure using MEAQ items. It has become the most widely used measure of experiential avoidance in research settings. These standardized questionnaires allow researchers to quantify levels of experiential avoidance accurately. They provide concrete metrics for tracking changes during therapeutic interventions. Clinicians utilize these tools to assess patient progress and adjust treatment plans accordingly. The development of these instruments reflects growing scientific interest in measuring avoidance behaviors systematically.
Common questions
What is experiential avoidance?
Experiential avoidance describes attempts to avoid thoughts, feelings, memories, physical sensations, and other internal experiences. This process often creates harm in the long run even when it seems helpful initially.
How does experiential avoidance affect mental health disorders?
Major depressive disorder manifests through isolation or suicide targeting feelings of sadness and guilt while posttraumatic stress disorder involves avoiding trauma reminders. Social phobia drives individuals away from social situations due to anxiety about judgment from others and panic disorder causes avoidance of situations that might induce panic alongside fear of physiological sensations.
Why does trying to suppress thoughts make them worse?
Laboratory-based thought suppression studies suggest avoidance is paradoxical in nature because concerted attempts at suppression of a particular thought often leads to an increase of that thought. Studies examining emotional suppression and pain suppression indicate avoidance is ineffective in the long run as sustained effort to suppress specific mental content backfires consistently across experiments.
Which questionnaires measure experiential avoidance?
The Acceptance and Action Questionnaire was the first self-report measure explicitly designed to measure experiential avoidance before being re-conceptualized as a measure of psychological flexibility instead. The Brief Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire is a 15-item measure using MEAQ items and has become the most widely used measure of experiential avoidance in research settings.
All sources
26 references cited across the entry
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- 2journalExperiential avoidance and behavioral disorders: A functional dimensional approach to diagnosis and treatmentSteven C. Hayes et al. — 1996
- 3journalDevelopment and validation of the Experiential Avoidance in Caregiving Questionnaire (EACQ)Andrés Losada et al. — 2014-10-03
- 4journalExperiential avoidance as a functional dimensional approach to psychopathology: An empirical reviewNeharika Chawla et al. — 2007-08-02
- 5bookThe Ego and the Mechanisms of DefenseA. Freud — International Universities Press — 1966
- 6bookComprehensive Textbook of PsychotherapyB. P. Karon et al. — Oxford University Press — 1995
- 7bookHandbook of Experiential PsychotherapyLeslie S. Greenberg et al. — Guilford Press — 1998
- 8bookGestalt Therapy: Excitement and Growth in the Human PersonalityF. S. Perls et al. — Julian Press — 1951
- 9bookOn Becoming a Person: A Therapist's View of PsychotherapyC. R. Rogers — Mifflin Company — 1961
- 10bookAnxiety and its DisordersDavid H. Barlow — Guilford Press — 1988
- 11bookComprehensive Textbook of PsychotherapyW. E. Craighead et al. — Oxford University Press — 1995
- 12journalExtinction of avoidance responding through response prevention (flooding)Morrie Baum — 1970
- 13bookPanic: Psychological PerspectivesD. M. Clark — Erlbaum — 1988
- 14bookCognitive Therapy and the Emotional DisordersAaron T. Beck — International Universities Press — 1976
- 15journalParadoxical effects of thought suppressionDaniel M. Wegner et al. — 1987
- 16journalHiding feelings: The acute effects of inhibiting negative and positive emotionJames J. Gross et al. — 1997
- 17journalDelayed costs of suppressed painDelia Cioffi et al. — 1993
- 18journalThe Body's Response to Processing Emotional Trauma: Linking Verbal Text with Autonomic ActivityCheryl F. Hughes et al. — 1994
- 19journalObsessive–compulsive symptoms: The contribution of obsessional beliefs and experiential avoidanceJonathan S. Abramowitz et al. — 2009
- 20journalAnxiety sensitivity, controllability, and experiential avoidance and their relation to drug of choice and addiction severity in a residential sample of substance-abusing veteransJohn P. Forsyth et al. — 2003
- 21journalPeritraumatic dissociation and experiential avoidance as predictors of posttraumatic stress symptomatologyBrian P. Marx et al. — 2005
- 22journalAn experimental investigation of emotion dysregulation in borderline personality disorderKim L. Gratz et al. — 2006
- 23journalMeasuring Experiential Avoidance: A Preliminary Test of a Working ModelSteven C. Hayes et al. — 2004
- 24webAcceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ) and VariationsSteven Hayes — Association for Contextual Behavioral Science — December 27, 2009
- 25journalDevelopment of a measure of experiential avoidance: The Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance QuestionnaireWakiza Gámez et al. — 2011
- 26journalThe Brief Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire: Development and initial validation.Wakiza Gámez et al. — March 2014