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Quaderni di Psicoterapia Cognitiva - Open Access

Studies and researches

No. 54 (2024)

Acceptance, mindfulness and exposure therapy practices

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3280/qpc54-2024oa18660
Submitted
ottobre 10, 2024
Published
2024-10-17

Abstract

Although exposure by habituation, based on the principle of aversive excitatory memory erasure, is still widely prevalent in the clinical setting, a different model, that of inhibitory learning, aims to radically modify the treatment of phobias and anxiety, emphasizing the role of procedures, other than habituation, which elicits, in the patient, the generation of a rival memory, the so-called inhibitory memory. The article aims to be a reflection on the role of exposure in the acceptance practices in use in the so-called Third Wave of Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy, largely based on the use of mindfulness, and intends to show, based on the most recent scientific evidence, how these practices can be framed precisely within the paradigm set by the theory of inhibitory learning and how, for them, as a result, a potential space for improvement opens up, aimed at optimising the strength, duration and recall of the inhibitory association, strengthening the extinction process and counteracting the return of fear and negative emotion.

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