Triggered minds: key considerations for symptom provocation research in anxiety-related disorders.

Abstract

Anxiety-related disorders are prevalent and can severely impact daily functioning, making the study of their underlying mechanisms a priority. Symptom provocation is an experimental approach enabling researchers to elicit and examine specific symptoms under controlled conditions in people affected by these disorders. This article provides an overview of symptom provocation techniques, their implementation, and their role in advancing research on anxiety-related disorders (including anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder). We outline key considerations for conducting high-quality symptom provocation studies, addressing study design and objectives, ethical considerations, experimenter training, study logistics, data validity, and opportunities for technological integration and collaboration. We provide guiding principles for obtaining more rigorous, reliable, and clinically meaningful findings to advance the current understanding of anxiety-related disorders.