(PS10-B27) Effects of Teletherapy Based in-vivo Exposure Treatment for Spider Phobia

In the midst of the current pandemic that has upended the lives of many people throughout the world, the main focus has been on the devastation to the collective physical health and the extraordinary loss of life. It is necessary to not ignore the other ill effects that the pandemic has created over the past three years, particularly people’s mental health. One of the challenges in mental health services has been the inability for psychologists and other mental health professionals to meet in person with their patients and others potentially seeking their services. As a result, using alternative means of communication has become a necessity to meet the patients’ needs. Mental health professionals have been using phone calls and video conferencing applications to continue treatment in a safe way. Some psychotherapeutic models translate to these platforms seamlessly, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, which are primarily talk therapy, however, other modalities, such as in-vivo exposure therapy are more difficult to implement using these platforms. In this study, ten spider phobic individuals were selected to participate in a study which considered the feasibility of treating spider phobia through a video conferencing platform. The ten participants engaged in a single session exposure treatment. Throughout the session they were progressively exposed to a common house spider for a maximum duration of three hours. It was hypothesized that the single session, teletherapeutic based in-vivo exposure would reduce participants’ subjective units of distress scores (SUDS), to show improved scores on the BAT, and to show reduced scores on self-report questionnaires which measure spider fear: the Fear of Spiders Questionnaire and the Spider Phobia Questionnaire. Visual analysis was used to note differences in participants’ SUDS scores. Based on this analysis, it was observed that SUDS scores reduced significantly from the start of the exposure session to the end. Three paired-samples t tests were utilized to determine whether there was a statistically significant change in participants’ scores on the Fear of Spiders Questionnaire, Spider Phobia Questionnaire, and Behavioral Avoidance Task from baseline to post-test. Based on data analysis, significant decreases in participants’ scores on the Fear of Spiders Questionnaire and the Spider Phobia Questionnaire were found from baseline to post-test. Significant increases on participants’ BAT scores from baseline to post-test were found. These findings have broad implications for clinical practice. First, based on the observed effectiveness of the single session, teletherapeutic based in-vivo exposure session for spider phobia, individuals in parts of the country or the world which do not have adequate mental health resources may eventually be able to access these gold standard treatments. Secondly, based on this research, it is possible that similar procedures can be designed for other diagnoses, such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which are reliant upon exposure based treatments. These treatments may be more accessible, not only due to their teletherapeutic component, but also more cost effective due to the time limited nature of these procedural designs.