A Spiderless Arachnophobia Therapy: Comparison between Placebo and Treatment Groups and Six-Month Follow-Up Study
We describe a new arachnophobia therapy that is specially suited for those individuals with severe arachnophobia who are reluctant to undergo direct or even virtual exposure treatments. In this therapy, patients attend a computer presentation of images that, while not being spiders, have a subset of...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Hindawi Limited
2007-01-01
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| Series: | Neural Plasticity |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2007/10241 |
| Summary: | We describe a new arachnophobia therapy that is specially suited for those individuals with severe arachnophobia who are reluctant to undergo direct or even virtual exposure treatments. In this therapy, patients attend a computer presentation of images that, while not being spiders, have a subset of the characteristics of spiders. The Atomium of Brussels is an example of such an image. The treatment group (n=13) exhibited a significant improvement
(time × group interaction: P=.0026) when compared to the placebo group
(n=12) in a repeated measures multivariate ANOVA.
A k-means clustering algorithm revealed that, after 4 weeks of treatment, 42% of the patients moved from the arachnophobic to the nonarachnophobic cluster. Six months after concluding the treatment, a follow-up study showed a substantial consolidation of the recovery process where 92% of the arachnophobic patients moved to the nonarachnophobic cluster. |
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| ISSN: | 2090-5904 1687-5443 |