A Comment On treatment analogues for phobic anxiety states

Abstract

SYSNOPSIS Much of the development of behavioural methods of treatment for phobic anxiety has relied on volunteer subjects participating in analogue studies investigating appropriate procedures. In this study a group of volunteer subjects with specific phobias is compared on psychometric tests with phobic patients and a normal control group. Results indicate significant differences between the volunteers and patients, in spite of the two groups sharing a common disabling symptom. The patients are distinguished by their high level of neuroticism, anxiety, and general psychiatric symptomology. Such differences raise difficulties of interpretation and indicate the need for caution in the extrapolation of analogue study results to the clinical situation.