Thomas D. Borkovec

Credibility of analogue therapy rationales

Abstract Four hundred and fifty college students rated the credibility of the rationales and procedural descriptions of two therapy, three placebo, and one component-control procedure frequently used in analogue outcome research. The rating scale was designed to assess both the credibility and the expectancy for improvement generated by the rationales. The results indicated that the control conditions were, in general, less credible than the therapy conditions. Implications for outcome research are briefly discussed.

Evaluation of a clinically relevant target behavior for analog outcome research

To evaluate a measurement procedure for a clinically relevant analog target behavior (social anxiety), college males (23 socially anxious and 23 nonanxious) were exposed to two brief interactions, 3 wk apart, with a female confederate. Half of each anxiety group was given low-demand-for-imporovement posttest instructions, while half was presented high-demand instruction. The procedure validly discriminated the two anxiety groups on several self-report, behavioral, and heart-rate measures. Demand manipulations had no positive effect on any measure. Physiological arousal was substantial and showed no evidence of habituation from pre- to posttest exposures.

Critical procedural variables related to the physiological effects of progressive relaxation: a review.

Abstract Twenty-five investigations of the physiological effects of progressive relaxation training were classified according to whether relaxation was found to be superior or equivalent to control conditions. The two sets of studies differed significantly on number of training sessions and in the use of taped vs live administration of training, and they tended to differ in the use of normal vs patient samples. The likelihood of producing significant physiological reductions via progressive relaxation appears to be greater when multi-session, subject-controlled training is conducted with subjects for whom physiological activity contributes to a presenting. clinical problem.

Physiological and Cognitive Processes in the Regulation of Anxiety

For the past five years we have been engaged in a program of research whose ultimate goal has been the development and evaluation of therapeutic methods for reducing anxiety. A basic assumption underlying our work has been that the successful evolution of such strategies will be facilitated by advances in our knowledge about the nature of anxiety itself. Consequently the majority of the research has attempted to identify basic conditions (environmental and subject) that serve to maintain or reduce the anxiety response.

The contribution of relaxation and expectancy to fear reduction via graded, imaginal exposure to feared stimuli.

Abstract Speech phobic subjects received five treatment sessions under either positive or neutral expectancy set. Therapy conditions included hierarchy exposure with contiguous relaxation (desensitization), exposure with noncontiguous relaxation, exposure only, and no-treatment. Expectancy had virtually no outcome effects. Desensitization was superior to the other conditions on subjective outcome measures. In contrast to the two exposure conditions without contiguous relaxation, desensitization resulted in increased imagery vividness, greater cardiovascular response to the first visualization of the initial hierarchy scene, and greater declines in cardiovascular response within repetitious visualizations of scenes and across initial visualizations of increasingly anxiety-provoking scenes. Expectancy significantly influenced both fear ratings and cardiovascular response to scenes during the first session, the latter effect disappearing after the first session. The results are discussed in terms of recent theorizing regarding the role of relaxation and expectancy in desensitization.

The role of expectancy and physiological feedback in fear research: A review with special reference to subject characteristics

Review of the expectancy literature in fear research indicates that a subject characteristic of intensity of fear is related to whether demand characteristic effects confound treatment effects. Review of physiological feedback studies suggests the potentially important role of physiological cues in maintaining and/or modifying fear behavior. Together, the two areas indicate that more research effort should be devoted to (a) the interaction of motoric, verbal, and physiological components of fear and (b) the role of individual differences, particularly at the physiological level, in those components and their modification.

The paradoxical effect of brief CS exposure on analogue phobic subjects

Abstract In formulating a theory of anxiety incubation, Eysenck (1968) has cited evidence from infrahuman and human aversive conditioning studies to suggest that nonreinforced CS exposure may, under certain conditions, lead to increases in fear. In several studies, repeated or prolonged exposure to symbolic representations of feared stimuli has been found to elicit unexpected increases in autonomic responses, whether these stimuli were visual (Borkovec and Glasgow, 1973), verbal descriptions (Boulougouris, Marks and Marset, 1971), or self-induced thoughts (Rankin et al., 1964; Bresnitz, 1967). While these studies support the existence of an incubation process, recent studies suggest that duration of CS exposure may be an important variable in producing this effect. Rohrbaugh and Riccio (1970) and Rohrbaugh, Riccio, and Arthur (1972) investigated the effect of varying the temporal parameters of extinction following Pavlovian fear conditioning and conditioned suppression, respectively. In both studies, short duration exposure to the CS subsequent to conditioning resulted in greater fear relative to zero or long exposure conditions. Furthermore, in support of an incubation effect, the latter study found increases in fear over post-conditioning base levels among brief exposure Ss. Miller and Levis (1971) using a procedure analogous to Rohrbaugh and Riccio (1970) obtained similar results with human Ss. Subjects who refused to touch a live snake were assigned either 0. 15, 30 or 45 min exposure to the snake. Consistent with analogue outcome research employing pre-posttest design. all groups showed greater approach scores on posttest. However, the approach of the 15 min exposure group was significantly less than that of the zero exposure group, while the 45 min condition did not differ from zero exposure. Miller and Levis (1971) suggested that the paradoxical enhancement of fear (Rohrbaugh and Riccio, 1970) exhibited by their brief exposure Ss relative to both zero and long exposure Ss was a function of the failure of redintegrated fear-eliciting cues to extinguish. In contrast, Staub (1968) has suggested that the reduced efficacy of brief exposure may be attributed to a failure to complete a cognitive re-evaluation of the probability of adverse consequences. The primary purpose of the present study was to replicate and extend the Miller and Levis study. Analogue phobic Ss were exposed to a snake for 0, 15 or 45 min. To assess whether fear enhancement suggested by Miller and Levis (1971) or fear re-evaluation offered by Staub (1968) might mitigate the paradoxical enhancement phenomenon, Ss in the brief (15 min) exposure condition were divided into three groups. During the 30 min subsequent to 15 min phobic stimulus exposure, Ss in one group were directed to write an essay concerning the most terrifying experience imaginable involving a snake. Ss in a second group were directed to identify and evaluate the logic of assumptions underlying their fear of snakes (similar to Meichenbaum, 1972). Ss in a control condition engaged in activities unrelated to fear or snakes. Of secondary interest was the relationship of subject characteristics to the occurrence of paradoxical enhancement. Eysenck has suggested that incubation is more likely to occur in Ss scoring high on anxiety/emotionality indices. Consequently, snake phobic Ss in each treatment group were divided on the basis of Mandler. Mandler, and Uvillers (1958) Autonomic Perception Questionnaire into high and low perceivers to represent high and low emotionality groups.

The facilitative effect of muscle tension-release in the relaxation treatment of sleep disturbance

Sleep disturbed subjects were randomly assigned to one of four group therapy conditions: progressive relaxation with muscle tension-release, relaxation without tension-release, placebo, and no treatment. Subjects were instructed not toexpect improvement until after the final (fourth) therapy session. Progressive relaxation produced significantly greater improvement in reported latency to sleep onset than the three control conditions prior to the final session and was the only group to display greater improvement than no treatment after the final session. Five month follow-up revealed further gains for the progressive relaxation group Issues of active mechanisms, demand, and placebo are briefly discussed.

The relationship between credibility of therapy and simulated therapeutic effects

The effect of variable credibility of treatment procedures on avoidance behavior was assessed in three studies. Snake-fearful Ss were pretested and then presented with descriptions of, and rationales for, various therapy and placebo conditions. Subsequently, the Ss were asked to assume that they had received 5 weeks of therapy by the described treatment, to simulate its effects on the posttest, and to rate its credibility. While one experiment demonstrated that Ss will simulate more positive treatment outcome under preferred treatment conditions, no mean differences in outcome were found among placebo and therapy rationale conditions in the two other experiments. Simulated therapy response and rated credibility were, however, significantly correlated in all three studies.

The role of physiological attention-focusing in the relaxation treatment of sleep disturbance, general tension, and specific stress reaction

Abstract Three experiments comparing the effects of muscle tension-release relaxation with vs without physiological attention-focusing and no-treatment on (a) sleep disturbance, (b) general tension, and (c) a variety of time estimation, heart rate perception, and stress reaction measures, are reported. The two relaxation conditions produced equivalent reductions in latency to sleep onset reports, suggesting the importance of tension-release in the relaxation treatment of sleep disturbance. Relaxation without physiological attention-focusing was unexpectedly superior to the other relaxation condition in reducing reported daily tension, supporting Dennys (1976) hypothesis that pervasive anxiety may be a function of anxiety conditioned to relaxation-produced cues. Sleep disturbed subjects over-estimated elapsed time, and relaxation training improved accuracy of time estimation. Several additional differences between sleep and tension subjects and among the three treatment conditions on physiological activity during stress are reported and discussed.