An experimental analysis of disgust sensitivity and fear of contagion in Spider and Blood Injection Injury Phobia

Disgust sensitivity and concern with contamination have been frequently associated with Spider and Blood-Injection-Injury (BII) Phobias. This study assessed the domain specificity of disgust sensitivity and concern with contamination in 29 Non-Phobic Controls, 25 clinical Spider Phobics, 26 clinical BII Phobics, and 27 persons who met clinical criteria for Spider Phobia and BII Phobia. On self-report measures we found evidence of domain specificity of disgust sensitivity for the Spider and BII Phobia groups. Furthermore, we found that persons with both phobias may be more disgust sensitive than persons with a single phobia. Interestingly, the animal reminder disgust stimulus used in this research was more sensitive to detecting domain specific differences in disgust sensitivity between Phobic groups than was the core disgust stimulus, emphasizing the importance of developing standardized behavioral measures of disgust sensitivity in future research. Lastly, findings from this research suggest that concern with contamination may be more influential in phobic avoidance for persons with Spider Phobia than for persons with BII Phobia. Treatment implications for these findings are discussed.

► Disgust sensitivity specificity was evaluated in Non-, Spider-, and BII-Phobics.
► Specificity of disgust type was found on self-report measures.
► A BAT indicated animal reminder disgust was sensitive and specific to BII Phobia.
► The BAT for core disgust did not distinguish between phobia groups.
► The fear of contamination task was somewhat specific to Spider Phobia.