ATTENTION VERSUS DISTRACTION DURING INVIVO EXPOSURE - SNAKE AND SPIDER PHOBIAS

Nineteen snake and spider phobic subjects underwent three exposure conditions and a baseline condition, each lasting six minutes. In the distracted condition, subjects listened for specific target words during audiotaped passages while continuing to observe the phobic stimulus. In the focused condition, subjects were prompted to focus on features of the phobic stimulus and their own emotional responses. Dependent measures included ongoing subjective report of fear and heart rate, retrospective fear ratings, and percent of time focused on the phobic stimulus and emotional responses. Subjective fear ratings increased over the six-minute focused exposure, in comparison to stability of fear levels during distracted and natural exposure. Heart rate did not differ between conditions. Possible treatment and theoretical implications are described, including the natural tendency for phobics to counter an initial attentional shift towards phobic stimuli with secondary cognitive avoidance strategies. © 1991.