The relative contributions of fear and disgust reductions to improvements in spider phobia following exposure-based treatment

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Abstract

The present study examines the relative contributions of changes in state fear and disgust emotions to improvements in spider phobia observed with exposure-based treatment. Sixty-one treatment-seeking spider fearful individuals underwent a one-session exposure in vivo treatment. Growth curve analyses indicated that treatment was associated with significant improvements in state fear and disgust reactions to a live spider and self-reported trait spider phobia symptoms. Mediation analyses demonstrated that changes over time in state fear and disgust each explained unique variance in improvements in phobic symptoms over time. Examination of the effect size of the mediated pathways suggests that changes in fear and changes in disgust are important to reductions in the severity of spider phobia symptoms during exposure-based treatment. The implications of these findings for conceptualizing the role of fear and disgust emotions in the maintenance and treatment of spider phobia are discussed.

Research highlights

► Exposure-based treatment associated with significant improvements in spider phobia. ► Exposure-based treatment associated with significant improvements in fear and disgust reactions to a live spider. ► Changes over time in fear and disgust during treatment each explained unique variance in improvement in spider phobia. ► Changes in fear and disgust are important to reductions in spider phobia during exposure-based treatment.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants were 61 treatment-seeking spider fearful individuals that were recruited through community advertisements. Participants responded to advertisements indicating the availability of free treatment for spider phobia for those willing to participate in scientific research.

Spider phobia severity

The Spider Phobia Questionnaire-Revised (SPQ-R: Klorman, Hastings, Weerts, Melamed, & Lang, 1974; modified by Olatunji, Woods, et al., 2009) is a 15-item true/false measure of phobic responding to spiders. The SPQ-R is

Participant characteristics

Participants were predominantly female (81.7%) which is consistent with prior findings (Fredrikson, Annas, Fischer, & Wik, 1996) showing that more females have spider phobia that males, with a mean age of 34 years (SD = 11.1; range 19–77). The mean score on the SPQ-R was 10.67 (SD = 1.79, range = 6–14), which is comparable to that of other exposure treatment studies that have utilized a more formal diagnostic assessment procedure (e.g., Olatunji, Woods, et al., 2009; M = 10.31, SD = 2.39).

Discussion

There remains a paucity of empirical work examining how fear and disgust operate during exposure-based treatment for spider phobia. The present study examined whether changes in state fear and disgust emotions uniquely mediate changes in self-reported trait symptoms of spider phobia during an exposure-based treatment. Consistent with previous research (i.e., Smits et al., 2002), the present study revealed that a one-session exposure in vivo treatment resulted in significant improvements in BAT

References (42)

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