For as long as she can remember, Emily Cherlin has been afraid to go camping, avoided basements and even hesitated to open a window for fear of meeting a spider.

"It was more the look of them than what I thought they might do to me," says Cherlin, a research associate in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the School of Medicine.

Yet, after only three treatment sessions with Department of Psychology researchers, Cherlin was able to lie still while a small tarantula named "Wednesday" treaded lightly up and down her hand and across her forehead. "I now know they are more afraid of me than I am of them," says Cherlin.

The program began in February and is directed by Bethany Teachman, a graduate student, and Sheila Woody, assistant professor of psychology.

So far, seven groups of three to six persons have been treated after responding to advertisements looking for sufferers of spider phobia. The word "arachnophobia" was purposely not used because of a movie of that title that plays on peoples' worst fears about spiders. A phobia is defined as a fear that is excessive and extreme to the point of interfering with daily life.

The treatment is called cognitive behavioral therapy and it involves having program participants move closer and closer, literally, to the objects of their most entrenched fears. They begin by looking at pictures of large, hairy spiders, and progress at their own pace to sitting in a room where four tarantulas of increasing size -- Wednesday, Rose, Wilbur and Spike -- are brought into the room. The participants gingerly move from looking to touching to allowing the smallest spider to roam up and down their hands, arms and even faces, if they choose.

Teachman, who is conducting the research project for her dissertation, measures the participants' fear and disgust before, during and after the program is concluded. There also is a two-month follow up. To date the success rate has been very high.

Kristi Lemm, a graduate student in psychology who recently completed the treatment, has progressed from "freezing" whenever she saw a spider to being able to, at a recent party, casually reach out and snatch a spider that had dropped down on a silken thread over an unsuspecting friend.

"I actually caught it twice. The first time it slipped away," Lemm says. "I maintained composure throughout. I pulled it to the floor, and someone stepped on it."

In psychological terms, spider phobia is an anxiety disorder. Teachman is measuring the level of fear throughout treatment using the Implicit Association Test (IAT), which was pioneered by psychology professors Mahzarin Banaji of Yale and Tony Greenwald of the University of Washington to reveal unconscious racial and other prejudices.

"We hope to evaluate whether the IAT will be sensitive to treatment effects and predictive of relapse," Teachman says. She also is investigating the relationship between different methods of fear measurement.

If the IAT is successful in measuring implicit fear, Teachman says it could be used to identify individuals at risk of developing anxiety disorders for the purpose of early intervention. It also could measure treatment progress and the likelihood of relapse, as well as resolve what are often inconsistent results in measuring anxiety.

-- By Jacqueline Weaver

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Yale Voices Heard at Millennial Events

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• Chaplain joins call for world peace at U.N.
  

  
  

Yale Doctor saves the lives of twins on international flight

Yale Press launches new imprint with 'global bookstore appeal'

ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS

• Asthma specialist Elias named a Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Medicine
  
  
• Joiner, expert on infectious disease, also appointed a Von Zedtwitz Professor
  
  
• Tinetti, noted for work on health issues of the elderly, assumes Crofoot chair
  

  
  

NIDA leader unveils 'toolbox' for fighting drug addiction

Law School's new Lindsay Fellowship honors former NYC mayor's public service

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE NEWS

• Students celebrate their hands-on work at house dedication
  
  
• Latest volume of noted architectural journal explores aspects of the design process
  
  
• The future of cities will be the focus of symposium
  

  
  

Panel to look at Elm City entrepreneurship

'Boot camp' will help boost new companies

Biologist Frank Ruddle is lauded for his many contributions to science and business in state

Program breaks through tangled web of spider phobia

Common antibiotic has harmful effects on some people

Discrimination is still an obstacle for disabled, study shows

'The Body Politic' traces evolution of satiric images

Exhibit takes close look at 'Miniature Arts of Asia'

Privacy in cyberspace is topic of author's talk

Development Office announces staff promotions, new addition

JE exhibit showcases work of American 'realist' painters

Slifka Center exhibit features paintings of Jewish ceremonies

Peabody Museum to host open house highlighting volunteer opportunities

A Day at the Bowl

Three new curators bring connoisseurs' 'passion' to Yale Art Gallery staff

Harshav receives Jerusalem Prize for Poetry, publishes several books this summer

Books Sandwiched In series features all-Yale line-up this fall

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