Candidate: Stacey A. Waller

Degree of: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Psychology

Title: Continuous and Interrupted Exposure Therapy in the Treatment of Public Speaking Anxiety

Committee:
Dr. C. Richard Spates, Chair
Dr. Lisa Baker
Dr. Amy Naugle
Dr. Lisa Largo-Marsh

Date:Monday, November 17, 2003 8:30a.m.-10:30a.m.
2523 Wood

Abstract: Current research suggests that exposure-based interventions are the treatment of choice for anxiety disorders (Barlow & Wolfe, 1981; 2002; Zinbarg, Barlow, Brown, & Hertz, 1992; Foa, Rothbaum, & Kozak, 1989). While the evidence to date supports the efficacy of these procedures, the precise mechanisms by which they achieve symptom reduction are not yet fully understood. Most theoretical explanations of exposure therapy appeal to the respondent and operant conditioning processes from which the procedure was originally derived. While it is frequently argued that in order to achieve operant and respondent extinction, exposure must be delivered continuously, without interruption (Barlow, 1988; Foa& Kozak, 1986; Groves & Thompson, 1970; Rachman, 1980), the empirical evidence suggests that under the right circumstances interrupted exposure is capable of producing extinction. The present study examined exposure-based therapies for anxiety by isolating the exposure procedure from these complex treatment packages. The first experiment tested the hypoTheses that in vivo exposure to anxiety-producing stimuli in the absence of other treatment package components is capable of achieving reduction in anxiety symptoms. Three subjects with public speaking anxiety were exposed to a continuous public speaking task in a multiple-baseline across subjects
design. The intervention produced reductions in anxiety symptoms in those symptom clusters for which initial reactivity was evident. The second experiment tested the hypoTheses that anxiety reduction can be achieved when the exposure is delivered in brief doses. Three subjects with public speaking anxiety were exposed to a public speaking task in 30-sec. doses in a multiple-baseline across subjects design. The intervention produced reductions in anxiety across symptom clusters. Within-session response patterns, suggested lower levels of anxiety with the intervention than those evident during the continuous intervention. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for current theoretical accounts of exposure therapy.

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