One-session group treatment of spider phobia

• Published in: Behaviour research and therapy Vol. 34; no. 9; pp. 707 - 715
• Main Author: Ost, L G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.09.1996; Elsevier Science; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Animals; Behavior; Behavior Therapy; Behavior therapy. Cognitive therapy; Biological and medical sciences; Desensitization, Psychologic; Fear & phobias; Feasibility Studies; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Group Structure; Group therapy; Humans; Imitative Behavior; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Phobic Disorders - psychology; Phobic Disorders - therapy; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychotherapy, Group; Spiders; Treatment Outcome; Treatments; Human; Phobia; Follow up study; Treatment efficiency; Anxiety disorder; Behavior therapy; Group psychotherapy
• ISSN: 0005-7967; 1873-622X
• DOI: 10.1016/0005-7967(96)00022-8

Forty-two patients with spider phobia, fulfilling the DSM-III-R criteria for simple phobia, were assessed with behavioral, physiological and self-report measures. They were randomly assigned to two group treatment conditions: (1) small groups of three to four patients, and (2) large groups of seven to eight patients. They received one 3-hr session consisting of exposure and modeling. The results showed that both conditions yielded significant improvements on almost all measures, and these were maintained or furthered at the 1-yr follow-up. With one exception, there was no difference between the conditions, but on most measures there was a trend for the small group condition to yield better effects. The proportions of clinically significantly improved patients at post-treatment were 82% in the small group and 70% in the large group. At follow-up the corresponding figures were 95% and 75%, respectively. The conclusion that can be drawn is that one-session group treatment is a feasible alternative to individual treatment, yielding almost as good effects.