Implicit Associations in Blood-Injection-Injury Phobia: Changes at Follow-up to Exposure

Current research has demonstrated that disgust plays a dominant role in the blood-injection-injury (BII) subtype of specific phobia and that disgust is extinguished less effectively during standard exposure to fear-eliciting stimuli. The current study examines the efficacy of one-session exposure to a disgust-elicitor through behavioral avoidance tasks (BATs), implicit associations tests (IATs), and self-report at a one-week follow-up. Participants completed all measures pre-exposure, post-exposure and at the one-week follow-up. A trend in phobic participants suggested significant improvement in avoidance from pre-exposure to follow-up and a significant decrease from post-exposure to follow-up. No significant changes were seen in implicit or explicit assessments of disgust, but a trend suggested possible improvement in implicit disgust cognitions from post-exposure to follow-up. The results support the use of disgust-based exposure as a means of decreasing phobic avoidance and suggest the addition of cognitive components to standard behavioral exposure to effect changes in disgust cognitions.