TREATMENT OF CLAUSTROPHOBIAS AND SNAKE SPIDER PHOBIAS - FEAR OF AROUSAL AND FEAR OF CONTEXT

Forty-nine individuals with fears of snakes or spiders, and 21 individ uals with claustrophobic fear were assigned randomly to two sessions o f either in vivo exposure plus relaxation or in vivo exposure plus dis confirmation of misappraisals of bodily sensations. Behavioral, subjec tive and physiological assessments were conducted pre and post treatme nt, and 4 weeks later. As hypothesized, disconfirmation of misappraisa ls of bodily sensations benefited claustrophobic fear reduction, but h ad little effect on fears of snakes or spiders. However, differential treatment effects failed to generalize to nontargetted phobic situatio ns, or generalize over time. In addition, the two treatments affected basic beliefs about arousal sensations equally.