Hostname: page-component-669899f699-swprf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-27T05:40:58.930Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Insensitivity of Salivation to Fear Arousal in Women with Spider Phobias

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2014

Rachel H. Lawson  and
Cynthia M. Bulik
Rachel H. Lawson
Affiliation:
University of Canterbury
Cynthia M. Bulik*
Affiliation:
University of Canterbury
*
Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand. Fax: 64 3 3642 181. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

We examined salivary reactivity in 11 women with simple phobia of spiders and 11 controls in response to a spider and a neutral cue. No differences in salivary reactivity were observed across diagnosis or conditions. Clear reactivity in heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and subjective units of distress were observed. Salivary reactivity was unrelated to any other measure of reactivity. These results suggest that a decrease in salivation is not a universal response to acute anxiety.

Type
Research Article
Information
Behaviour Change , Volume 12 , Issue 4 , December 1995 , pp. 196 - 200
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 1995

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

American Psychiatric Association. (1987). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed., rev.). Washington, DC: Author.Google Scholar
Bates, J.F., & Adams, D. (1968). The influence of mental stress on the flow of saliva in man. Archives of Oral Biology, 13, 593–596.Google Scholar
Beck, A., Ward, C., Mendelson, M., Mock, J., & Erlbaugh, J. (1961). An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 561–571.Google Scholar
Ben-Aryeh, H., Roll, R., Kahana, L., Malberger, E., Szargel, R., & Gutman, D. (1985). Saliva as an indicator of stress. International Journal of Psychosomatics, 32(3), 3–8.Google ScholarPubMed
Brown, L.R., Frome, W.J., Wheatcroft, M.G., Riggan, L.J., Bussell, N.E., & Johnston, D.A. (1977). The effect of Skylab on the chemical composition of saliva. Journal of Dental Research, 56(10), 1137–1143.Google Scholar
Bulik, C.M., Lawson, R.H., & Carter, F.A. (in press). Salivary reactivity in high and low restrained eaters and women with bulimia nervosa. Appetite.Google Scholar
Cannon, W. (1953). Bodily changes in pain, hunger, fear and rage: An account of recent researches into the function of emotional excitement. Boston: Charles T. Branford.Google Scholar
Epstein, L.H., Mitchell, S.L., & Caggiula, A.R. (1993). The effect of subjective and physiological arousal on dishabituation of salivation. Physiology and Behavior, 53, 593–597.Google Scholar
Klorman, R., Hastings, J., Weeds, T., Melamed, B., & Lang, P. (1974). Psychometric descriptions of some specific-fear questionnaires. Behavior Therapy, 5, 410–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morse, D.R., Furst, L.M., & Schacterle, G.R. (1986). Saliva: The misunderstood and underrated fluid. Stress Medicine, 2, 13–25.Google Scholar
Morse, D.R., Schacterle, G.R., Esposito, J.V., Furst, L.M., & Bose, K. (1981). Stress, relaxation and saliva: A follow-up study involving clinical endodontic patients. Journal of Human Stress, 7(3), 19–26.Google Scholar
Morse, D.R., Schacterle, G.R., Furst, L.M., & Bose, K. (1981). Stress, relaxation, and saliva: A pilot study involving endodontic patients. Oral Surgery, 52(3), 308–313.Google Scholar
Nirenberg, T.D., & Miller, P.M. (1982) Salivation: An assessment of food craving? Behavior, Research and Therapy, 20, 405–407.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peck, R. (1959). The SHP Test: An aid in the detection and measurement of depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1, 35–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
SAS Institute. (1994). JMP user's guide. Cary, SC: Author.Google Scholar
Spitzer, R., Williams, J., Gibbon, M., & First, M. (1988). Structured clinical interview for DSM-III-R: Patient version (SCID-P, 4/1/88). New York State Psychiatric Institute, Biometrics Research Department.Google Scholar
Winsor, A. (1930). Factors which indirectly affect parotid secretion. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 13, 423–437.Google Scholar