Exposure treatment in multiple contexts attenuates return of fear via renewal in high spider fearful individuals
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Background and objectives Research has demonstrated that after exposure treatment, re-exposure to a previously feared stimulus outside of the treatment context can result in renewal of fear. The current study investigated whether conducting exposure treatment in multiple real-life contexts can attenuate renewal of fear. Methods Forty-six moderate to high spider fearful individuals were randomly allocated to groups that received exposure treatment in either one context or three contexts. Follow-up testing was conducted one week and four weeks after exposure in the treatment context or a novel context. Results Renewal of fear was found for the single extinction context group when exposed to the feared object in a novel context with self-report of fear, heart rate, and behavioural avoidance. However, renewal of fear was attenuated for the multiple extinction context group. Limitations The sample included moderate to high spider fearful participants rather than clients with spider phobia, potentially limiting the generalisability of the findings to clinical populations. Conclusions Using multiple extinction contexts in combination with other methods of attenuating renewal (e.g., context similarity) may provide a means to reduce the risk of renewal of fear.
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In laboratory studies, using multiple contexts during exposure led to less renewal of fear in spider phobia and snake phobia than single-context exposure.
“In laboratory studies, the use of multiple contexts during exposure has led to less renewal of fear in those with spider phobia (Bandarian-Balooch, Neumann, & Boschen, 2015; Shiban, Pauli, & Mühlberger, 2013) and snake phobia (Olatunji, Tomarken, Wentworth, & Fritzsche, 2017) compared to those with whom exposure was conducted in a single context.”
From Enhancing Inhibitory Learning: The Utility of Variability in Exposure (2019) · cites this paper as Bandarian-Balooch, Neumann, & Boschen, 2015
The Discussion reports that fear renewal occurred after single-context exposure and was attenuated after multiple-context exposure. But the Method Participants and Discussion specify that this study involved people with moderate to high spider fear who were not formally assessed for spider phobia; it does not establish the result for people with spider phobia. The sentence attributes the snake-phobia finding to a different citation. (LLM, conf=0.90)
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Eaton, W. W., Bienvenu, O. J., & Miloyan, B. (2018) · The Lancet Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s2215-0366(18)30169-x · Cited by 203 · see citing works
Factors influencing the success of exposure therapy for specific phobia: a systematic review
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Enhancing Inhibitory Learning: The Utility of Variability in Exposure
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Katz, B. A., Breznitz, H., & Yovel, I. (2019) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2018.12.001 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
- Authors
- Bandarian-Balooch, S., Neumann, D. L., & Boschen, M. J.
- Affiliations
- Griffith University (AU)
- Venue
- Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-06
- Volume
- 47
- Pages
- 138-144
- ISSN
- 0005-7916 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2035012538
- Cited by
- 44
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 2.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Griffith Research Online (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Keywords
- fear extinction, fear renewal, exposure therapy, spider phobia, contextual similarity, avoidance behavior, heart rate, anxiety disorders
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Animals, Avoidance Learning, Conditioning, Classical, Extinction, Psychological, Fear, Female, Heart Rate, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Phobic Disorders, Recurrence, Spiders, Time Factors, Treatment Outcome, Young Adult
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