Treating spider phobia using Neuro Emotional Technqiue (N.E.T.): A pilot study

INTERVENTION: Neuro Emotional Technique (NET) is a relatively new stress‐reduction technique whose aim is to remove neurological abnormalities which have a specified physiopathological pattern. Oftentimes emotional trauma can cause a learned emotional response, a conditioned fear, and as a result, a related physiopathological pattern. Under normal conditions, the learned response becomes extinct, and the physiopathological pattern resolves. However, occasionally this does not happen, and both persist. This especially seems to be case in phobia. The goal of NET is to normalise these aberrant patterns through a physical correction. It involves the dynamics of memory, muscle testing, and some principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (i.e. the meridian‐emotion relationship). The experimental group received two 30‐minute sessions of NET ‐ once per week for 2 weeks. CONDITION: spider phobia PRIMARY OUTCOME: Mean change in Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS) scores SECONDARY OUTCOME: Mean change in Becks Anxiety Inventory (BAI) scores Mean change in Behavioural Assessment Test (BAT) scores Mean change in heart rate Mean change in Spider Questionnarie (SPQ) scores INCLUSION CRITERIA: Self‐reported spider phobia; fluent in English