Agoraphobic anxiety and fear of fear: Test of a cognitive-attentional model

Abstract

A cognitive-attentional model of fear of fear is presented which suggests that agoraphobic individuals are overattentive to their internal body sensations and autonomic arousal and do not possess an effective emotional labeling repertoire to describe such arousal. Agoraphobics, simple phobics, and normal controls were compared on dispositional measures of body consciousness, autonomic awareness, self-consciousness, and relaxation-induced anxiety. As predicted, agoraphobics were more conscious of internal body sensations in general, reported greater awareness of autonomic symptoms when aroused, and were more fearful of losing control and of negative social responses when anxious than were either simple phobics or normals. The groups did not differ, however, in private or public self-consciousness. Results are discussed with reference to the concept of fear of fear and the proposed cognitive-attentional model of agoraphobic anxiety.