Treatment of claustrophobias and snake/spider phobias: fear of arousal and fear of context

Forty-nine individuals with fears of snakes or spiders, and 21 individuals with claustrophobic fear were assigned randomly to two sessions of either in vivoexposure plus relaxation or in vivo exposure plus disconfirmation of misappraisals of bodily sensations. Behavioral, subjective and physiological assessments were conducted pre and post treatment, and 4 weeks later. As hypothesized, disconfirmation of misappraisals of bodily sensations benefited claustrophobic fear reduction, but had little effect on fears of snakes or spiders. However, differential treatment effects failed to generalize to nontargetted phobic situations, or generalize over time. In addition, the two treatments affected basic beliefs about arousal sensations equally.