Thinking too much about mistakes can lead to avoidance

Researchers at Texas A&M University have discovered how intensely people react to making mistakes may be a predictor of anxiety-driven avoidance. The findings, published by Dr. Annmarie MacNamara and her team in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, suggest that individuals with heightened emotional responses to errors are more likely to develop avoidant behaviors. Avoidance, or steering clear of uncomfortable situations, is common in anxiety and depression. The work is published in the journal Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science.

“We were able to look at change over time in their symptoms and whether the baseline response to errors predicted that change, which it did,” MacNamara said.

The findings could help clinicians better understand why anxiety and depression symptoms worsen for some people but not others.

The study involved 74 people who reported symptoms of anxiety, depression, PTSD or OCD. The researchers measured each participant’s brain activity immediately following an error, and again one year later.

A key finding centered on what the researchers call “blunting,” a reduction in the brain’s emotional response to mistakes. Those who experienced stronger initial emotional reactions to errors followed by blunting over the next year tended to become more avoidant over time.

“Everyone makes mistakes,” MacNamara said. “But those individuals who respond with a lot of emotion, or a lot of intensity, when they do make an error, those are the individuals that tend to suffer from anxiety.”

The findings could pave the way for better diagnostic tools and treatments. Currently, mental health disorders are harder to diagnose objectively than other illnesses, MacNamara said, but she hopes increased understanding and identification of biomarkers will advance targeted therapies.

“If we could advance an increased understanding of the different types of disorders that are out there and objective markers of those disorders, maybe we can develop better and more targeted treatments,” MacNamara said. “We’re very far from that in psychiatry.”