reassuranceseeking

Reassuranceseeking is a behavioral pattern defined by repeated efforts to obtain reassurance from others or to generate internal assurances in order to alleviate perceived threat, uncertainty, or distress. It can manifest as frequent questions, seeking confirmation, or delaying decisions until certainty is achieved. In healthy amounts, reassurance can help navigate new or risky situations; when excessive, it becomes time-consuming, distressing, and detrimental to functioning.

The phenomenon is often discussed in relation to anxiety-related conditions, including generalized anxiety disorder, health anxiety, social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders, and mood disturbances, though it can appear in non-clinical populations under stress. Reassurance seeking tends to be most prominent when intolerance of uncertainty is high and when social feedback reinforces the behavior, creating a cycle of temporary relief followed by renewed worry.

Mechanistically, reassuranceseeking is linked to intolerance of uncertainty, negative affect, and attachment-related factors. Cognitive biases may amplify threat appraisals, and safety behaviors like reassurance can momentarily reduce distress but fail to address underlying concerns, thereby maintaining or escalating anxiety over time. The behavior can also strain relationships and erode self-efficacy, as individuals become increasingly reliant on external validation rather than internal coping.

Assessment is primarily research-oriented or clinical-psychoeducational, using self-report measures to gauge frequency and impact. Treatment tends to focus on reducing reassurance-seeking as a safety behavior through cognitive-behavioral strategies, exposure to uncertainty, distress tolerance training, and caregiver coaching to avoid reinforcing the pattern.