Reactivation and Evaluation of Mastery Experiences Promotes Exposure Benefit in Height Phobia

AbstractThe retrieval of personal mastery experiences has been linked to adaptive functions, such as increased perceived self-efficacy and coping capability. Successful exposure leads to an increased mastery experience with respect to anxiety provoking situations, possibly due to a violation of expected negative outcomes. We investigated whether the reactivation and evaluation of mastery experiences after a brief virtual reality exposure (VRE) training can enhance self-efficacy and promote exposure therapy benefit in patients with acrophobia. Acrophobic participants (N  =  56) were randomly assigned to a memory reactivation and evaluation (= VRE–MRE) intervention, a control (= memory reactivation; VRE–MR), or no intervention (= VRE) after VRE. The VRE–MRE condition involved the evaluation of mastery experiences associated with exposure and related event s from the past. The effects of the VRE–MRE intervention were assessed on the level of behavioral avoidance and subjective fear at post-treatment and one-month follow-up. Relative to both the VRE–MR and VRE conditions, the VRE–MRE group showed an increase in self-efficacy and exhibited more pr onounced reductions in behavioral avoidance, subjective fear at the initial approach distance, as well as scores on the acrophobia questionnaire (AQ) from pre- to post-treatment. The superior effects of the VRE–MRE intervention remained evident on the level of behavioral avoidance and associated s ubjective fear a...
Source: Cognitive Therapy and Research - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research