The effects of distraction on desensitization and reprocessing.
The present analogue study of seventy-two students with mild spider anxiety assessed the role of distraction in the desensitization and reprocessing of aversive information. Accessing different components of Baddeley's model of short-term memory, three treatment groups involving distraction tasks and one control group maintaining focussed exposure were compared in a pre-test post-test experimental design. The results indicated that all groups experienced a similar reduction in both self-report and heart-rate measures of anxiety. However, at the follow up phase, the groups containing a distraction task showed an increase in anxiety levels significantly greater than that for the control condition. No differences were reported between any of the distraction groups.
Haw
J
J
Department of Psychology, University of Western Sydney, Milperra, NSW, Australia. john.haw@uws.edu.au
Dickerson
M
M
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D001143:Arousal; D001288:Attention; D001740:Black Widow Spider; D003887:Desensitization, Psychologic; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016896:Treatment Outcome