INDUCED MOOD, PHOBIC RESPONDING AND THE RETURN OF FEAR

The link between depression and phobic responding is poorly understood . Forty-eight spider phobics were exposed to videotaped spider sequenc es whilst in relatively depressed or relatively elated moods, then pre sented the same stimuli whilst in a neutral mood. Results indicated th at depressed mood increased initial responding, and was associated wit h greater return of fear during the second (non-mood) sequence. The re turn of fear was not attributable solely to differential habituation r ates during the first sequence, suggesting that the differences observ ed may have been due to cognitive effects.