Exposure treatment in multiple contexts attenuates return of fear via renewal in high spider fearful individuals

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Author(s)
Bandarian-Balooch, Siavash
Neumann, David L
Boschen, Mark J
Year published
2015
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Background and objectives: Research has demonstrated that after exposure treatment, re-exposure to a previously feared stimulus outside of the treatment context can result in renewal of fear. The current study investigated whether conducting exposure treatment in multiple real-life contexts can attenuate renewal of fear.
Methods: Forty-six moderate to high spider fearful individuals were randomly allocated to groups that received exposure treatment in either one context or three contexts. Follow-up testing was conducted one week and four weeks after exposure in the treatment context or a novel context.
Results: Renewal ...
View more >Background and objectives: Research has demonstrated that after exposure treatment, re-exposure to a previously feared stimulus outside of the treatment context can result in renewal of fear. The current study investigated whether conducting exposure treatment in multiple real-life contexts can attenuate renewal of fear. Methods: Forty-six moderate to high spider fearful individuals were randomly allocated to groups that received exposure treatment in either one context or three contexts. Follow-up testing was conducted one week and four weeks after exposure in the treatment context or a novel context. Results: Renewal of fear was found for the single extinction context group when exposed to the feared object in a novel context with self-report of fear, heart rate, and behavioural avoidance. However, renewal of fear was attenuated for the multiple extinction context group. Limitations: The sample included moderate to high spider fearful participants rather than clients with spider phobia, potentially limiting the generalisability of the findings to clinical populations. Conclusions: Using multiple extinction contexts in combination with other methods of attenuating renewal (e.g., context similarity) may provide a means to reduce the risk of renewal of fear.
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View more >Background and objectives: Research has demonstrated that after exposure treatment, re-exposure to a previously feared stimulus outside of the treatment context can result in renewal of fear. The current study investigated whether conducting exposure treatment in multiple real-life contexts can attenuate renewal of fear. Methods: Forty-six moderate to high spider fearful individuals were randomly allocated to groups that received exposure treatment in either one context or three contexts. Follow-up testing was conducted one week and four weeks after exposure in the treatment context or a novel context. Results: Renewal of fear was found for the single extinction context group when exposed to the feared object in a novel context with self-report of fear, heart rate, and behavioural avoidance. However, renewal of fear was attenuated for the multiple extinction context group. Limitations: The sample included moderate to high spider fearful participants rather than clients with spider phobia, potentially limiting the generalisability of the findings to clinical populations. Conclusions: Using multiple extinction contexts in combination with other methods of attenuating renewal (e.g., context similarity) may provide a means to reduce the risk of renewal of fear.
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Journal Title
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry
Volume
47
Copyright Statement
© 2015 Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, providing that the work is properly cited.
Subject
Cognitive and computational psychology