Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry
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J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry · Jun 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialSymbolic online exposure for spider fear: habituation of fear, disgust and physiological arousal and predictors of symptom improvement.
This research compared the effects of real versus hyper-real images on anxiety, disgust, and physiological arousal during internet-delivered exposure in high spider-fearfuls. Hyper-real images were digitally altered to highlight fearful aspects. A further aim was to examine self-reported and behavioural therapeutic outcomes and exposure-related predictors of these outcomes. ⋯ Findings provide evidence in support of the efficacy of online image-based exposure and have implications for informing further research into the underlying mechanisms of image-based exposure treatment.