Mental reinstatement of context and return of fear in spider-fearful participants.
Extant findings in the animal and human conditioning literature demonstrate that renewal, termed return of fear in studies with humans, occurs when reexposure to a previously feared phobic stimulus occurs in a context different than the one present during extinction. The present study investigated whether mental reinstatement of the treatment context at follow-up could attenuate context-based return of fear. Forty-eight spider-fearful individuals received exposure therapy in one of two contexts, and were followed-up 1 week later in the treatment or a new context. Half of the participants received instructions to mentally reinstate the treatment context before the follow-up test. Self-report data replicated previous research on contextually driven return of fear. Furthermore, participants who mentally reinstated the treatment context, before encountering the phobic stimulus in a new context at follow-up, had less return of fear than those who did not. Limitations of the current study, as well as implications for phobia treatment, are discussed.
Mystkowski
Jayson L
JL
Department of Psychology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563, USA. jlmyst@ucla.edu
Craske
Michelle G
MG
Echiverri
Aileen M
AM
Labus
Jennifer S
JS
D000818:Animals; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008297:Male; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D012008:Recurrence; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013112:Spiders; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires