Menzies, RG & Clarke, JC 1993, 'A comparison of in vivo and vicarious exposure in the treatment of childhood water phobia', Behaviour Research and Therapy, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 9-15.
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The effectiveness of in vivo exposure and vicarious exposure in reducing children's phobic anxiety and avoidance of water was investigated. Forty-eight water phobic children between the ages of 3 and 8 yr were randomly assigned to one of four groups: (1) in vivo exposure plus vicarious exposure (IVVE); (2) vicarious exposure (VE); (3) in vivo exposure (IVE); and (4) assessment only control. All subjects in the treatment groups received three individually administered treatment sessions. At the conclusion of treatment it was found that the IVE condition had produced statistically and clinically significant gains that had generalized to another situation involving water, and were largely maintained over a period of 3 months. In contrast, the VE condition did not lead to statistically greater treatment benefits than those observed in the control subjects. Furthermore, there was no significant difference between the IVVE condition and the IVE condition in their level of improvement from pre- to posttreatment. Hence, by post-treatment, vicarious exposure had not only failed to produce benefits when used on its own, but had also failed to enhance the benefits achieved through in vivo exposure. However, a tendency for the vicarious component to enhance the maintenance of treatment benefits was found at follow-up. The implications of these findings are discussed. © 1992.
Menzies, RG & Clarke, JC 1993, 'The etiology of childhood water phobia', Behaviour Research and Therapy, vol. 31, no. 5, pp. 499-501.
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The origins of 50 clinical cases of childhood water phobia were investigated. All Ss had sought treatment at a university-based water phobia clinic. During screening, an origins questionnaire was administered to each attending parent. Parents were asked to indicate the most influential factor in the onset of their child's concern from a list of alternatives covering all three of Rachman's (itBehaviour Research and Therapy, 15, 375-387, 1977) pathways to fear. Only one parent could recall classical conditioning episodes at the onset of their child's phobia. In contrast, the majority of parents (56%) claimed their child's concern had always been present, even on their first encounter with water. The data are taken to support a non-associative model of onset. Differences with previous studies in which classical conditioning has accounted for the majority of cases are discussed in terms of the differing definitions of conditioning used across studies. © 1993.
Menzies, RG & Clarke, JC 1993, 'The etiology of fear of heights and its relationship to severity and individual response patterns', Behaviour Research and Therapy, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 355-365.
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The acquisition of fear of heights in an undergraduate student sample was investigated. Height-fearful (n = 50) and non-fearful (n = 50) groups were formed on the basis of extreme scores to the heights item on the FSS-III (Wolpe & Lang, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 2, 27-30, 1964). Subjects were then assessed with a battery of measures including the Acrophobia Questionnaire (Cohen, Behaviour Therapy, 18, 17-23, 1977), self-rating of severity (Marks & Mathews, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 17, 263-267, 1979), global rating of severity (Michelson, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 24, 263-275, 1986), and a new comprehensive origins questionnaire constructed by the authors. Results obtained question the significance of simple associative-learning events in the acquisition of fear of heights. Only 18% of fearful Ss were classified as directly conditioned cases. Furthermore, no differences between groups were found in the proportion of Ss who knew other height-fearfuls, had experienced relevant associative-learning events, or the ages at which these events had occurred. Finally, no relationships between mode of acquisition and severity or individual response patterns were obtained. In general, the data were consistent with the non-associative, Darwinian accounts of fear acquisition that continue to attract theorists from a variety of backgrounds (e.g. Bowlby, Attachment and loss. London: Penguin, 1975; Clarke & Jackson, Hypnosis and behaviour therapy: The treatment of anxiety and phobias. New York: Springer, 1983; Marks, Fears, phobias and rituals: Panic anxiety and their disorders. New York, Oxford Univ. Press, 1987). Differcnces with previous studies in which classical conditioning has accounted for the majority of cases are discussed in terms of the methodological differences across studies. © 1993.
Walker, WA, Pate, JW, Amundson, D & Kennedy, C 1993, 'AIDS-related bronchopleural fistula', The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, vol. 55, no. 4, pp. 1048-1048.
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