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Thought suppression in spider phobia

P Muris1, H Merckelbach, R Horselenberg

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Maastricht, The Netherlands.

Behaviour Research and Therapy
|August 1, 1997
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Spider phobic individuals experience more spider-related thoughts and attempt to suppress them more than non-phobic individuals. Thought suppression had minimal impact on the frequency of these intrusive thoughts.

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Clinical Psychology
  • Cognitive Psychology

Background:

  • Spider phobia is a common specific phobia.
  • Thought suppression is a cognitive strategy that may influence phobic ideation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of thought suppression in spider phobia.
  • To compare thought patterns and suppression efforts between spider phobic and non-phobic individuals.

Main Methods:

  • Spider phobic (n=41) and non-phobic (n=40) participants monitored thoughts during three 5-minute periods.
  • Participants received varying instructions, including thought suppression (not thinking of spiders) and free thought.
  • Spider-related thoughts were monitored online, and retrospective estimations were collected.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Spider phobic individuals reported significantly higher levels of spider-related thoughts compared to non-phobic individuals.
  • Phobic participants demonstrated a greater effort to suppress spider-related thoughts.
  • The contribution of thought suppression to the overall frequency of spider-related thoughts was minimal.

Conclusions:

  • Spider phobia is associated with increased spider-related ideation and attempts at suppression.
  • While thought suppression may have some counterproductive effects, it minimally impacts the frequency of intrusive thoughts in spider phobia.