Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T12:22:12.705Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Physiological Aspects of Neutral and Phobic Imagery: Further Observations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Isaac M. Marks
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AF
J. Huson
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AF

Extract

Phobic imagery is used extensively in the treatment of phobic disorders by psychological means. The physiological and subjective accompaniments of such imagery are thus of some importance for both treatment and assessment. An earlier report (Marks et al., 1971a) described a standardized method of assessment of phobic imagery and results in one trial of 16 phobic patients. To date the method has been used in the assessment of 77 phobic patients before and after treatment in 6 different studies. This report summarizes our experience with it and its sensitivity to clinical changes. The main finding was that subjective report was a more consistent discriminator between phobic and neutral images than were measures of heart rate or skin conductance. Nevertheless physiological measures were often useful indicators of clinical changes.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1973 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Benjamin, S., Marks, I. M., and Huson, J. (1972). ‘Desensitisation with and without relaxation.Psychol. Med., in press.Google Scholar
Grossbero, J. M., and Wilson, H. K. (1968). ‘Physiological changes accompanying the visualization of fearful and neutral situations.J. Person. & soc. Psychol., 10, 124–33.Google Scholar
Lader, M. H., and Marks, I. M. (1972). Clinical Anxiety. Heinemann Medical.Google Scholar
Lader, M. H., and Marks, I. M. and Wing, L. (1966). Physiological Measures, Sedative MDrugs and Morbid Anxiety. Maudsley Monograph No. 14. Oxford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Marks, I. M. (1972). ‘Flooding (implosion) and allied treatments’, in Behavior Modification Principles and Clinical Applications (ed. Agras, W. S.). N.Y.: Little, Brown and Go.Google Scholar
Marks, I. M., Marset, P., Boulougouris, J., and Huson, J. (1971). ‘Physiological accompaniments of neutral and phobic imagery.Psychol. Med., 1, 299307.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marks, I. M., Marset, P., Boulouoouris, J., and Marset, P. (1971b). ‘Flooding versus desensitisation in the treatment of phobic patients: a crossover study.Brit. J. Psychiat., 119, 353–75.Google Scholar
Marks, I. M., Marset, P., Boulouoouris, J., and Marset, P., Viswanathan, R., and Lipsedob, M. (1972). ‘Enhanced extinction of fear by flooding during waning diazepam effect.Brit. J. Psychiat., 121, 493505.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mathews, A. M. (1971). ‘Psychophysiological approaches to the investigation of desensitisation and related procedures.Psychol. Bull., 76, 7391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stern, R. S., and Marks, I. M. (1971). Paper to Annual Conference of Behavioural Engineering Association, Wexford.Google Scholar
Watson, J. P., and Marks, I. M. (1971). ‘Relevant and irrelevant fear in flooding.Behaviour Therapy, 2, 275–93.Google Scholar
Watson, J. P., Gaind, R., and Marks, I. M. (1971). ‘Prolonged exposure: a rapid treatment for phobias.Brit. med. J., i, 1315.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.