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Spider phobia, among the most common anxiety disorders, is ordinarily treated by exposure therapy. Phobia severity is thought to be heightened by sensitivity to accompanying physiological arousal; to cope with these sometimes-aversive physiological states, individuals may engage in phobic avoidance. Investigators studied 54 spider-phobic but otherwise healthy individuals (85% women; average ages, early 20s) to examine how the effectiveness of exposure therapy might be affected by timing vis-à-vis the cardiac cycle and by the individuals' subjective awareness of their heartbeat (interoceptive ability).
Participants were randomized to one of three groups exposed to flashing spider images that were synchronized (via electrocardiogram) with diff…