Physiological reactivity to phobic stimuli in people with fear of flying.

Objective: The nature of the relationship between physiological and subjective responses in phobic subjects remains unclear. Phobics have been thought to be characterized by a heightened physiological response (physiological perspective) or by a heightened perception of a normal physiological response (psychological perspective).

Method: In this study, we examined subjective measures of anxiety, heart rate (HR), and cardiac autonomic responses to flight-related stimuli in 127 people who applied for fear-of-flying therapy at a specialized treatment center and in 36 controls without aviophobia.