Role of Fear of Fear and Safety Information in Moderating the Effects of Voluntary Hyperventilation

The present study investigated the singular and joint effects of fear of somatic sensations and perceived safety of hypocapnia-induced bodily cues on nonclinical subjects' subjective and psychophysiological response to a hyperventilation challenge. Fear of fear was assessed with the Body Sensations Questionnaire (BSQ; High versus Low), and subjects were randomly assigned to one of two informational conditions (Safety Information versus No Safety Information). When anticipating hypcrventilation, High BSQ-Safety Information subjects reported higher subjective anxiety compared to Low BSQ-Safety Information subjects. Similarly, High BSQ-Safety Information subjects reported significantly more symptoms during the anticipatory phase compared to subjects in each of the other three conditions. During hyperventilation, fear of somatic cues and safety information exerted independent effects on subjective responding. High BSQ subjects reported higher levels of subjective fear and physical symptoms compared to Low BSQ subjects; subjects who received safety information reported lower levels of anxiety and physical symptoms compared to those who did not receive safety information. High BSQ subjects' heightened subjective fear response persisted through the hyperventilation recovery period. There were no group differences on the psychophysiological variables across any of the experimental phases. These findings provide further support both that fear of fear contributes to heightened emotional responding to biological challenges and that emotional responding is also affected by conditions that alter the perceived threat of the challenge-induced cues.