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CHAPTER 8 194 (2012). It also fits with the findings of Goetz and Lee (2015). Based on a functional classification of safety behavior proposed by Helbig-Lang and Petermann (2010), Goetz and Lee (2015) compared the effect of restorative safety behavior (aimed at restoring safety and reducing distress, e.g., using a hygienic wipe or hand sanitizer after touching a contaminant), preventive safety behavior (aimed at preventing contact with a contaminant; e.g., using a tissue or wearing gloves while touching a contaminant) and no safety behavior during exposure to a contaminant in healthy participants. Exposure with restorative safety behavior resulted in greater reductions of contamination fear and behavioral avoidance than exposure with preventive safety behavior and exposure without safety behavior, whereas exposure without safety behavior outperformed exposure with preventive safety behavior (Goetz & Lee, 2015). In contrast to preventive safety behavior, restorative safety behavior may have allowed habituation. However, the positive effects of cleaning safety behavior during exposure to a contaminant were mainly investigated in healthy participants, and no long-term effects were assessed. Levy and Radomsky (2016a) argued that the beneficial effects of cleaning safety behavior may be due to the novelty of the safety behavior: safety behavior that has never been used before has not been associated with prevention or avoidance of feared outcomes, and may therefore not cause a misattribution of safety to the behavior. Levy and Radomsky (2016a) found that, in patients with OCD and contamination fear, one session of exposure to a contaminant with safety behavior that the patients had never used before resulted in a greater reduction of contamination fear than exposure with safety behavior patients routinely used, or than exposure without the use of safety behavior. However, Levy and Radomsky’s (2016a) line of reasoning suggests that when the never-used safety behavior loses its novelty and becomes associated with the avoidance of feared outcomes, the positive effects may disappear. Hence, clinical trials that investigate long-term effects of the incorporation of cleaning safety behavior in exposure therapy for contamination fear are needed.