Ghent University, Belgium.
Behav Res Ther. 2011 Jun;49(6-7):427-32. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2011.03.011. Epub 2011 Apr 7.
In flight phobia, particular environmental factors can facilitate a fear response. The current study aimed to explore the relationship between respiratory sensations and fear of flying: individuals with fear of flying may be more sensitive to suffocation signals and could experience more bodily sensations as a consequence of an added resistive respiratory load. The sample included 19 subjects with fear of flying and 19 controls. Each subject wore a mask to which a respiratory load could be added. First, an interference paradigm was used: respiratory loads were presented during a tone detection task. Next, subjects were asked to detect the loads. After each task, subjects reported their somatic sensations. All subjects showed interference of the respiratory loads. However, subjects with fear of flying were more accurate in detecting the loads, thereby indicating higher interoceptive awareness. Moreover, their superior accuracy was related to increased bodily sensations: a higher interoceptive awareness resulted in increased symptom reporting. It follows that treatment interventions for fear of flying should be supplemented with interventions that target internal stimuli.
在飞行恐惧症中，特定的环境因素可以促进恐惧反应。本研究旨在探讨呼吸感觉与飞行恐惧之间的关系：患有飞行恐惧的个体可能对窒息信号更敏感，并且由于额外的呼吸阻力负荷，可能会体验到更多的身体感觉。样本包括 19 名飞行恐惧患者和 19 名对照组。每个受试者都戴着一个口罩，可以在上面增加呼吸负荷。首先，使用干扰范式：在音调检测任务中呈现呼吸负荷。接下来，要求受试者检测负载。在每项任务之后，受试者报告他们的躯体感觉。所有受试者的呼吸负荷都受到干扰。然而，患有飞行恐惧的受试者在检测负载方面更加准确，从而表明他们的内感受意识更高。此外，他们较高的准确性与增加的身体感觉有关：更高的内感受意识会导致更多的症状报告。因此，飞行恐惧的治疗干预措施应该辅以针对内部刺激的干预措施。
