The relative effectiveness of cognitive restructuring and coping desensitization in the treatment of self-reported worry

Abstract

This clinical outcome study compared two therapeutic methods for the reduction of self-reported worry with a placebo and waiting-list control. In cognitive restructuring, participants were trained to realistically reevaluate imaginally presented worry situations. In coping desensitization, participants were taught to use relaxation in response to worry images within a coping framework. Progressive relaxation alone was used as the placebo condition. On the basis of questionaire measures of anxiety and self-reported worry, greater anxiety and worry reductions were found in the cognitive restructuring group, followed by minimal changes in the coping densensitization group, and no changes in the placebo and waiting-list control. Subjects in the restructuring condition also reported significant increases in attention and decreases in frequency of thought intrusions.