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Comparative Study
. 2007:2007:10241.
doi: 10.1155/2007/10241.

A spiderless arachnophobia therapy: comparison between placebo and treatment groups and six-month follow-up study

Laura Carmilo Granado  1 , Ronald Ranvaud, Javier Ropero Peláez
Affiliations
Comparative Study

A spiderless arachnophobia therapy: comparison between placebo and treatment groups and six-month follow-up study

Laura Carmilo Granado et al. Neural Plast. 2007.

Abstract

We describe a new arachnophobia therapy that is specially suited for those individuals with severe arachnophobia who are reluctant to undergo direct or even virtual exposure treatments. In this therapy, patients attend a computer presentation of images that, while not being spiders, have a subset of the characteristics of spiders. The Atomium of Brussels is an example of such an image. The treatment group (n = 13) exhibited a significant improvement (time x group interaction: P = .0026) when compared to the placebo group (n = 12) in a repeated measures multivariate ANOVA. A k-means clustering algorithm revealed that, after 4 weeks of treatment, 42% of the patients moved from the arachnophobic to the nonarachnophobic cluster. Six months after concluding the treatment, a follow-up study showed a substantial consolidation of the recovery process where 92% of the arachnophobic patients moved to the nonarachnophobic cluster.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Some “SLAT” images used in the treatment.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Time course of the BAT and SUDS means with a real spider, (a) and (b), and with a spider photo, (c) and (d), for placebo and treatment groups. Vertical segments indicate standard error.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Variation of synaptic efficiency (synaptic weight) in terms of postsynaptic activity. For levels of postsynaptic activity above the LTP threshold, synaptic potentiation (positive variation of synaptic weight) takes place. Between the LTD and LTP thresholds, synaptic depression (a negative variation of synaptic weight) occurs. Below the LTD threshold there is no variation of synaptic efficiency.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Hypothetical arrangement of thalamus and amygdala connections, used in the computational model that inspired the therapy here described (SLAT). R: thalamic reticular neurons; I: thalamic intralaminar neurons; L: lateral nucleus of the amygdale; C: central nucleus of the amygdala. Due to a competitive process performed between reticular neurons in the model, each one of them responds to a specific feature of a sensory pattern (Peláez [32, 33]). A similar competitive process takes place between intralaminar neurons, each one responding to a specific combination of features. Therefore, a certain number of features, that is, reticular neurons, are necessary for firing a specific intralaminar neuron. When this number is low, a low postsynaptic activity in intralaminar neuron favors synaptic depression, according to Figure 3, thereby reducing the possibility of future intralaminar neuron firing. In this way, the thalamic-amygdala pathway is depressed in the computational model.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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