Triple response system model: what it is, parts and characteristics

Anxiety and other emotions do not manifest only in our mind. In addition to catastrophic thoughts and emotional discomfort, anxiety makes us feel tics, breathe faster, our heart races and even causes indigestion.

There are three types of responses that are manifested with emotions: cognitive, behavioral and physiological. These three dimensions are related to anxiety, but they do not have to go hand in hand.

The triple response system is a classic model that emphasizes these three dimensions related to emotions, paying attention to the behavior and organism of the patient without ignoring her processes at a psychological level. Let's look at it in more detail below.

• Related article: "Emotional psychology: main theories of emotion"

What is the triple response system?

The triple response system is a three-dimensional theory of anxiety developed by psychologist Peter Lang in 1968. This theory, which is also called the Lang model after its author, is three-dimensional insofar as that assesses three types of anxiety-related responses: cognitive, behavioral, and physiological. Before this model was conceptualized, it was believed that emotions and other psychological processes were always of an internal nature, that is, that they only occurred mentally or cognitively.

However, with the appearance of the Lang model The idea was spreading that in order to approach a problem, especially anxiety disorders, both the internal aspects and the patient's thinking should be evaluated, in addition to what your body reflects both physiologically and behaviorally, this being the fundamental idea of ​​the triple response system. In addition, it is argued that, although related, some answers do not have to go hand in hand with the others, that is, not the spheres of the cognitive, behavioral and physiological manifest themselves with the same intensity.

Main premise of the model

The triple response system theory has its origins in Peter Lang's observations when he treated patients with phobias using systematic desensitization. This psychologist observed that the responses of his patients contradicted the one-dimensional model of emotion, a theoretical assumption that was widespread in the 1960s. The one-dimensional model held that cognitive, behavioral, and physiological measures were correlated in the emotional problems such as anxiety and that if there is a change in one of these measures it will also occur in the other two.

However, Lang's clinical experience suggested rather the contrary, since he saw that there were some discrepancies between these three. types of response when presenting a case of anxiety and, also, in other psychological problems related to emotions. A triple response system was manifested, that is, the cognitive, physiological and behavioral components of the patient did not have to be correlated with each other, although they did have to be related to the main problem of the anxiety. That is, there could be different intensity in the manifestation of responses.

System Components

As we have indicated, Lang's model maintains that three different response levels can be observed when faced with anxiety: cognitive, physiological, and motor. These three typologies do not necessarily have to be connected or interrelated. and, at the same time, its intensity, perception, duration and moment of appearance can vary according to the patient. This is due to the presence and influence of stimuli, both internal and external to the patient, in addition to the type of stimulus that triggers the response and, naturally, the characteristics of the individual (differences individual)

1. cognitive response

Within Lang's model, there is talk of a cognitive response to the set of thoughts and feelings that appear in the mind of the individual in the presence of the stimulus that causes anxiety. On the part of feelings we can talk about fear, worry or fear. Regarding the part of the thoughts, to mention a few, we have exaggerating the magnitude of the perceived threat, imagining the worst possible scenarios, anticipating that something catastrophic is going to happen...

All this can lead to feelings such as insecurity, a feeling of loss of control, negative thoughts about oneself such as low self-esteem and reduced self-concept, inability to make decisions, problems concentrating, and fear that others will notice that you are feeling severe discomfort or that they will detect that you are suffering anxiety.

2. motor or behavioral response

The motor or behavioral response refers to the movements or actions that the patient performs when feeling anxiety. This type of response is divided into two types: direct responses and indirect responses.

2.1. direct answers

We refer to direct motor responses as those that are directly observable but involuntary. In this type of response we find tremors, stuttering, tics, general motor restlessness...

In addition, a lack of motor precision and problems learning and performing complex tasks can be manifested. These motor signs can be so disruptive that they can affect processes as seemingly unrelated as memory and prescriptive discrimination.

2.2. indirect answers

The indirect answers are the escape or avoidance behaviors carried out by the patient, which have some voluntary but not absolute control. This type of behavior usually occurs in response to the other two components of the triple response system, that is, cognitions (thoughts and feelings) and changes physiological.

This typology of behavioral responses includes behaviors that in the short or long term can harm the health of the individual or lead to various problems: alcohol abuse, smoking, use of prohibited substances, eating large amounts of meal...

3. physiological responses

Physiological responses are those that appear when there is some increase in the activity of the autonomic nervous system and the somatic nervous system, as well as in combination with the endocrine responses of the Central Nervous System. These systems are involved in the responses that occur at an organic level to a stimulus that causes anxiety, such as may be increased cardiovascular activity, muscle tension, sweating, dry mouth, disruption of digestion...

The patient does not have to manifest all these physiological signs when a stimulus appears that causes anxiety, but it can be said that in case of manifesting any and that it is maintained for a long time can have a negative impact on physical health of the affected For example, being constantly anxious and manifesting your physiological responses for a long time can cause problems such as insomnia, gastrointestinal discomfort, muscle contractures, erectile dysfunction, tachycardia...

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Usefulness in the diagnosis of anxiety disorders

The triple response system model has great utility with respect to the diagnosis of anxiety disorders since, when taking into account that the cognitive, the motor and the physiological may not manifest with the same intensity when a stimulus appears anxiety, it is possible to obtain a more precise differential diagnosis and apply more appropriate therapeutic techniques for the case concrete.

One of the main problems with verbal reports in the form of an interview is that they focus more on the cognitive and purely emotional area of ​​the patient., that is, they are asked how they feel, something that is necessary to know, but how they feel is not evaluated behaves the patient in a purely anxiogenic situation, causing him to manifest responses of the three guys. In order to know how to help the patient, it is necessary to go beyond the internal, evaluating both their response organic as her behavior before the stimulus, aspects that not even the patient himself may be aware that makes.

With the model of the triple response system it is understood the need to provoke, in a controlled context, the responses associated with anxiety. For this reason, Peter Lang himself often resorted to stimuli such as photographs, words and sounds. with a positive, negative and neutral component, stimuli that aroused some kind of emotion in the patient. These stimuli have their own system, the International Affective Image System (IAPS) and the International Affective Sound System (IADS).

This same strategy is essential today to detect and treat anxiety problems such as phobias. Knowing that a patient feels anxiety when faced with a phobic stimulus is necessary to be able to diagnose him as a patient with phobia, but it is of little use if you do not go further and try to find out how you respond to what you say you feel anxiety. For example, to help a patient with arachnophobia images of spiders can be presented to him, recording how he behaves, what he feels and also what physiological response he manifests.

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