Active Mental Health NIHR-supported project Psychology & Behaviour

Exploring Reassurance- and Emotional Support- Seeking

Funder NIHR (part of DHSC)
Recipient organisation NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North Thames
NIHR support Recorded as supported by this research centre
Period Mar 2025 — Oct 2027

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

A person with anxiety or OCD may repeatedly ask for reassurance—"Are you sure I’m safe?"—yet feel no lasting relief, a pattern that can trap them in their condition. This matters because excessive reassurance-seeking (ERS) is linked to several common mental health disorders—panic disorder, social anxiety, OCD, body dysmorphia, and health anxiety—but researchers know little about how it differs across these conditions, why it becomes excessive, or whether it predicts how well treatment works. Clinicians currently lack clear guidance on assessing or addressing ERS in practice. If this research succeeds, it could lead to targeted training for therapists, helping them recognise and respond to ERS more effectively across different disorders. That could improve treatment outcomes for the many people whose recovery is undermined by this repetitive, unrelieved need for certainty. The project is applied clinical research, not fundamental science; its immediate aim is to inform assessment and therapy, not to uncover basic mechanisms.

View original technical description
Excessive reassurance-seeking (ERS) has been shown to be associated with the maintenance of a number of common mental health conditions such as panic disorder, body dysmorphia, social anxiety, OCD and health anxiety. There is limited research as to how reassurance-seeking may present across different mental health disorders and demographics, why it may become excessive, and how this may predict treatment outcomes. This is clinically relevant as greater understanding of this phenomenon could help improve how we assess and treat this across presentations. The current study therefore, aims to investigate reassurance-seeking in a number of common mental health disorders. We aim to investigate whether there are any patterns in reassurance seeking across different demographics and mental health presentations. We also aim to investigate whether ERS may be connected to a need for interpersonal connection to others. The results of this study will provide greater understanding of the presentation and impact of ERS in common mental health difficulties, which will have crucial implications for targeted training initiatives in improving assessment and treatment.

Researchers

Chiara Causier (Principal Investigator)

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Original classification

Mental Health

Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.