The Effect of Behavioral Therapy on Dog Phobia Response Patterns
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7443028 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Willem A Hoffmann (0000-0002-1926-823X, Department of Biological Sciences, Technikon Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa), Johannes S J Odendaal (Department of Biological Sciences, Technikon Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa) |
| Year | 2001 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 29-37 |
| Publication date | 2001-03-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Anthrozoös (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0892-7936 • E-ISSN: 1753-0377 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.2752/089279301786999571 |
| OpenAlex | W2078957681 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 20 |
Phobic fear can be regarded as an emotional response syndrome consisting of three groups of response patterns, namely cognitive-affective, motor-behavioral and physiological. In the present study, female students were assigned to two groups: an experimental group consisting of participants suffering from dog phobia, and a control group. The study consisted of three stages: the resting stage measured baseline values, while the pre- and post-intervention stages measured values in the presence of a dog stimulus. Cognitive-affective aspects were assessed by an anxiety scale and post-study questionnaire. Motor-behavioral aspects focussed on dog approach termination distances and the observation of non-verbal communication cues during behavioral approach tests. Physiological aspects were measured in terms of plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) levels. Systematic desensitization therapy was found to be effective in alleviating motor-behavioral and cognitive-affective aspects, while its effect on plasma ACTH levels was inconclusive. No significant plasma ACTH level changes occurred in the experimental group during the study. When comparing the experimental and control groups, the only significant difference was a lower plasma ACTH level in the control group during the post-intervention stage. Total stressor schedule values suggest that participants in the experimental group had a predisposition to be generally more anxious and fearful than participants in the control group
Adrenocorticotropic hormone · Anxiety · Cognition · Developmental psychology · Exposure therapy · Hormone · Psychiatry · Stressor · Systematic desensitization · Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes · Medicine · Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior · Psychology · Stress Responses and Cortisol · Clinical Psychology · Internal Medicine
| Citations per year | 0.13 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2003 - 2019 (17) |
| Highly cited | No |