CAUSAL PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS INVOLVED IN DENTAL PHOBIA.

The study was designed in order to allow the investigation of theoretical predictions regarding the determinants of dental phobia. By way analysis we test under which conditions self-cognitions have a direct action or not on the semeiology of dentist oriented anxiety. We also study the role of the pain and of pre-existent anxiogenic fond. The sample was made of 198 participants (teenagers and adults aged between 15 and 35 years old) who were assessed with a scale package during one session before the stomatological intervention phase. The study indicates that the anxiogenic fond is the one residing at the basis of developing specific phobia for dentist and for administered treatment. Previous pain experience in association with basal anxiety creates the set of mediators between irrational beliefs and self-esteem oscillations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]