Using speech anxiety as the target behavior, this study compared two self-control desensitization procedures. Speech-anxious community residents (N=42) volunteered for participation in the program and were seen within a group context for a total of seven therapy sessions. No differential effectiveness was found between the two desensitization…

The influence of two of the variables in Leitenberg's graduated exposure technique for treating phobias, graduated exposure and subject control of the exposure time, was investigated using 15 snake-phobic subjects. Subjective fear significantly decreased from pretesting to posttesting. (Author)

In the context of a "reinforced practice" treatment paradigm, the present study experimentally analyzed whether or not feedback superimposed upon contingent praise would have an additive therapeutic effect. (Author)

Assessed relative effects of therapist empathy and instructed imagination of heirarchy scenes on avoidance behavior reduction. Imagery instructions delivered in a relatively unempathetic fashion produced as much avoidance reduction as imagery instructions delivered in an empathetic manner. (Author)

College students were treated with either a standard or modified version of systematic desensitization. Relative to a no-treatment control group, both treatment methods produced significant reductions in both the treated and untreated fears. The implications these findings have for two alternative conceptions of systematic desensitization are…

Forty-five youngsters rehearsed one of three types of mediating response, involving different types of sentences. Analyses revealed that different training significantly influenced duration and intensity settings, with the "competence" group generally superior to the "stimulus" and "neutral" verbalization groups. (Author)

Snake- or spider-phobic subjects (N=32) were randomly assigned to one of four groups. Subjects receiving semantic desensitization therapy showed less posttest anxiety on the semantic differential than control subjects regardless of testing condition. (Author)

This study investigates whether six women who previously had received 15 sessions of group systematic desensitization (SD) for their sexual anxiety would report additional treatment gains from participation in a sexual-enchantment workshop with their partners. The women reported a significant decrease in sexual anxiety. (Author)

College-student snake phobics received one of four treatments to reduce their snake avoidance behavior. Behavioral and self-report assessment showed all three treatments relative to the control to be highly and equally effective in reducing snake avoidance behavior. (Author)

Accelerated massed desensitization and anxiety management training were compared with standard systematic desensitization in terms of reducing self-reported test anxiety in high test-anxious college students. All three treatments significantly reduced test anxiety as compared with a waiting list control group. (Author)

The study compared modified versions of systematic desensitization and covert positive reinforcement to a no-treatment control condition in the reduction of test anxiety. On an anagrams performance test, the covert reinforcement and control groups were superior to the desensitization group. (Author)

The subject-controlled graduated exposure of a snake with feedback of exposure times resulted in significantly less avoidance behaviors for snake-phobic subjects than for control snake-phobic subjects who did not receive therapy. (Author)

This study investigated the process of fear change during a course of systematic desensitization therapy. Behavioral, subjective, and physiological measures of fear were taken following each of eight therapy sessions. Changes in one fear system did not appear to be primary in initiating changes in the other fear systems. (Author)

Relaxation as self-control and desensitization were compared to a wait-list control in reduction of rest and other anxieties. Active treatments differed significantly from the control treatment. Subjects in both treatments reported less debilitating test anxiety, whereas desensitization subjects showed greater facilitating test anxiety. (Author)

Test-anxious students were assigned to four treatment groups, a placebo group, or an untreated control group. Four treatment groups resulted from combinations of two treatment rationales (active coping and passive reciprocal inhibition) and two treatment procedures (self-control and standard). Treatment groups were equally effective in reducing…