Mental Countermeasure

[Homer12]

I have a question regarding one of the techniques described in the "The Lie Behind The Lie Detector". The author describes one mental technique to use is to make yourself think as if you're falling, which presumably causes you feel fear, raising your heart beat and raising your blood pressure.
I have experimented with several techniques using a grocery store blood pressure measuring machine. The machine provides the the readings for blood pressure and heartbeat.

I have discovered that thinking about my worst phobia, which is eternal life (long story), raises all my readings like no other technique. Even more so then using the pucker technique. By varying the degree of how much I think about it I can move the numbers on the blood pressure machine. I can do this within seconds, and I don't have to fake my breathing pattern. Since I am genuinely scared, my breathing changes automatically. I really have little control over the breathing pattern, but again I can cotrol the intensity by how much or how little I think about my phobia.

Do you think this is a good coutermeasure? Like I stated I tried several techniques and this is the one that I have the most control over and the one where I am genuinely scared. Also do you think that the machine I am using to check these techniques is reliable?
Let me know what you think about this technique?

[George W. Maschke]

Do you think this is a good coutermeasure?

Yes. I believe that thinking about one's worst phobia when responding to the "control" questions should be a highly effective mental countermeasure. Mental countermeasures have been shown to be as effective as physical countermeasures in studies done by Prof. Charles R. Honts (and others). See the article abstracts listed under "Honts" in the bibliography of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector.

With regard to the grocery store blood pressure measuring machine, I don't know how reliable it is, but it seems likely that when you think about your phobia, your blood pressure and heart rate do indeed increase.