No Treatment Research Articles

Effects of a contingent relaxation treatment program on adults with refractory epileptic seizures.

A group of eighteen adults with refractory epileptic seizures were given psychological treatment in a two-phase experimental group study. In phase one, the experimental phase, the patients were divided into three groups--contingent relaxation (CR), attention control (ATC) treatment, and a no-treatment (NT) control group--with the purpose of investigating the effects of a learning-based contingent relaxation program compared with the effects of professional attention alone when superimposed on a regular medical treatment program. The design of the experimental phase was comprised of a 10-week baseline, 6-week intervention, and 10-week follow-up. Results of this phase at the end of follow-up showed a significant reduction only for those patients receiving the CR treatment. In the nonexperimental phase, the two control groups also received the CR treatment for a 6-week period, and subsequent seizure frequency measures for all three groups were analyzed after 10-week and 30-week follow-up periods. Results of this phase showed a significant reduction in seizure frequency for all three groups after receiving the CR treatment. Effects of the CR treatment were maintained at a 30-week follow-up. The results indicate that the CR treatment program may be of substantial help to adults whose seizures are resistant to conventional drug therapy.

Control of aversive stimulus termination in systematic desensitization

Indirect experimental evidence does not support Wolpe's (1958) notion that desensitization to an item early on the hierarchy is a prerequisite for movement to a more aversive item lest residuals of anxiety may summate and lead to sensitization. An experiment involving forty female snake-phobics was conducted to test this contention directly. In addition to two control groups of no treatment (NT) and pseudodesensitization (PD), two other groups were used. All Ss were matched on their pre-treatment fear of a live snake and randomly assigned to the groups. One group was treated by Wolpean procedure (SD) wherein two successive presentations without signalling were set as criterion for movement to the next item. The other (YSD) was yoked to the SD group but neither had control over termination of the aversive stimulus nor was necessarily desensitized to early items before the more aversive ones were attempted. The SD and YSD improved equally and significantly better than the PD and NT ( p<0.01) while neither control group changed. The same changes were maintained in a follow-up. These results paved the way for devising standardized treatments, scheduled and taped in advance, applicable to individuals and groups alike.

The comparative effectiveness of pairing aversive imagery with relaxation, neutral tasks and muscular tension in reducing snake phobia

Fifty females matched on their pre-treatment fear of a live snake were randomly assigned to five groups of which two were no-treatment (NT) and pseudodesensitization (PD) controls. The three experimental groups were exposed to 78 recorded and identically worded and timed sequences of aversive imagery paired with relaxation in one group (SSD), neutral tasks (ANT) in another, and muscular tension (AMT) in the third, in accordance with a scheduled form of desensitization described previously (Nawas, Fishman and Pucel, 1969). Treatment was massed, in the sense that each of the 78 pairs took 2 min to present and all treatment was completed in five long sessions. The results revealed (1) highly significant reduction ( p<0.001) of fear among the AMT and ANT groups, (2) no difference between AMT and ANT, (3) no change in NT and PD controls, and (4) superiority of the SSD over the ANT and AMT ( p<0.05). The findings were interpreted as supporting Rachman's (1968) thesis regarding the irrelevance of muscular relaxation to desensitization. Systematic desensitization was reformulated in Guthrian terms to accommodate these and other findings.