# Brief Enhanced Anxiety Sensitivity Treatment: A Pilot Study

> **NIH VA I21** · VETERANS AFFAIRS, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF · 2022 · —

## Abstract

Project Summary
Veterans with elevated anxiety sensitivity are likely to suffer disproportionately and unnecessarily following the
COVID-19 pandemic. Beyond the emotional suffering, this will likely manifest in functional impairment.
Addressing this potential crisis requires dissemination of interventions targeting risk factors that maintain
anxiety and functional impairment without overloading an already taxed mental health services pipeline.
Anxiety sensitivity, or fear of anxiety sensations, is a transdiagnostic risk factor that exacerbates anxiety,
results in functional impairment, and increases the strength of the relation between anxiety and functional
impairment. Thus, anxiety sensitivity is an ideal target to restore functioning in Veterans with reporting
functional impairment. Preliminary data by our group has demonstrated that functional impairment due to
COVID-19 is common, enduring, and is predicted by levels of anxiety sensitivity, suggesting a critical need to
intervene. Further, there is robust evidence that anxiety sensitivity is malleable using cognitive-behavioral
therapy techniques, even when delivered in brief, one-session interventions. Our group has shown brief one-
session interventions are efficacious and rated as acceptable by participants. The increased use of telehealth
and mobile apps in the Veterans Healthcare Administration provides an opportunity for this brief evidence-
based intervention to be disseminated broadly. The proposed study will be the first to adapt and test Brief
Enhanced Anxiety Sensitivity Treatment (BEAST) for functional impairment in Veterans with elevated anxiety
sensitivity. BEAST comprises a one-session intervention including psychoeducation about the nature of
anxiety, identification and challenging of common maladaptive thoughts about anxiety sensations, and
interoceptive exposure to demonstrate the benign nature of anxiety. BEAST also includes a two-week
ecological momentary intervention component designed to provide ecologically valid opportunities to practice
the skills acquired during the one session. The proposed aims in this pilot feasibility and acceptability trial are
to 1) adapt BEAST to be delivered via telehealth and a mobile app working with stakeholders and the Center
for Mobile Applications Research Resources & Services and 2) pilot test the intervention for acceptability and
feasibility. This application is directly responsive to RR&D Small Projects in Rehabilitation Research (SPiRE)
RFA RX-22-003. We target functional impairment in Veterans with elevated anxiety sensitivity, a common
finding in people with anxiety disorders. Findings from this pilot trial will provide the necessary demonstration of
acceptability, feasibility, and usability of BEAST and its constituent components. This will allow us to
expeditiously conduct a fully powered randomized control trial to demonstrate efficacy of BEAST and then a
dissemination trial. Disseminating a brief anxiety sensitivity intervent...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10485354
- **Project number:** 1I21RX003880-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** VETERANS AFFAIRS, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF
- **Principal Investigator:** Nicholas Paul Allan
- **Activity code:** I21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-01 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10485354

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10485354, Brief Enhanced Anxiety Sensitivity Treatment: A Pilot Study (1I21RX003880-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10485354. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*