The Role of Treatment Expectation in Exposure Training With Spider Fearful Participants

The Role of Treatment Expectation in Exposure Training With Spider Fearful Participants

This study evaluates the role of treatment success expectation in spider fearful individuals on the actual treatment success. Half of participants will have positive treatment success expectations, while the other half will have neutral treatment outcome expectations.

The investigator plan to conduct a randomized, single blind study with two parallel groups. Both groups undergo the same standardized psychotherapeutic intervention, i.e. exposure training. All participants will receive the same exposure training in groups of maximum three participants of the same study group. The two study groups only differ regarding the induced treatment expectations towards the effects of the exposure training. While the experimental group will get an open administration of treatment and be informed in order to have a positive treatment expectation, the comparator group will receive a hidden administration of treatment and get neutral information, thus treatment expectations will be neutral. Study members conducting the exposure training with the participants will not be aware of the allocation of the study participants. Study participants will be informed about the aim of the allocated condition, but they will be blind to the aim of the study in order to induce the specific expectation. Differences in treatment outcomes are compared between both groups to investigate the association with treatment expectation.

Inclusion Criteria:

• good knowledge of German language

• fulfilling criteria A-E and G for specific phobia according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-V (fulfilling criteria F is not an inclusion criteria)

  • marked fear or anxiety about spiders
  • spiders almost always provoke immediate fear or anxiety
  • spiders are actively avoided or endured with intense fear or anxiety
  • the fear or anxiety is out of proportion to the actual danger posed by spiders
  • the fear, anxiety, or avoidance is persistent, typically lasting for 6 months or more
  • the disturbance is not better explained by the symptoms of mental disorders as agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, separation anxiety or social anxiety disorder

Exclusion Criteria:

• acute or chronic psychiatric disorder
• currently in psychological or psychiatric treatment
• knowledge of exposure training