The effectiveness of behavioral therapy based on gradual desensitization on anxiety in people with animal phobia

Abstract

Animal phobia is a common subtype of specific phobia and is often accompanied by marked anxiety, avoidance behavior, and functional impairment. Systematic desensitization is a behavioral intervention that combines relaxation training with gradual exposure to feared stimuli. Objective: This study examined the effectiveness of behavioral therapy based on systematic desensitization in reducing anxiety and animal-phobia symptoms among adolescents with animal phobia. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design with a control group was used. Twenty-seven adolescents aged 15-18 years who met the inclusion criteria for animal phobia were recruited from counseling centers in Mashhad, Iran, and randomly allocated to an experimental group (n = 13) or a control/wait-list group (n = 14). The experimental group received eight weekly 60-minute sessions of systematic desensitization, whereas the control group received no intervention during the study period. Outcomes were assessed using the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the animal-phobia items of the Specific Phobia Questionnaire (SPQ). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), controlling for pretest scores. After controlling for pretest scores, the experimental group showed significantly lower posttest anxiety than the control group, F(1, 24) = 64.37, p < .001, partial eta squared = .728. A significant intervention effect was also observed for animal-phobia symptoms, F(1, 24) = 28.98, p < .001, partial eta squared = .547. Descriptive results indicated a clinically meaningful reduction in BAI scores in the experimental group from 47.49 +/- 3.89 to 33.99 +/- 4.95, while the control group changed only minimally. Behavioral therapy based on systematic desensitization appears to be an effective, structured, and low-cost psychological intervention for reducing anxiety and animal-phobia symptoms in adolescents. Future studies with larger samples, active control conditions, and follow-up assessments are recommended.