Date of Graduation

2000

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MA

Committee Chair

Georg H. Eifert

Abstract

Avoidance is a core problem among patients with panic and other anxiety disorders that is often targeted in treatment. The present study compared the effects of acceptance versus control therapeutic contexts on avoidance of an aversive interoceptive stimulus in a controlled laboratory setting. Previous research has demonstrated the ironic and paradoxical effects of control-oriented strategies. Therefore, it was hypothesized that acceptance strategies will be more useful in the reduction of avoidance. Sixty high-anxious females were exposed to carbon-dioxide enriched air, an anxiety analogue, and assigned to either a control-context, acceptance-context, or no instruction condition. The context of acceptance was explained to subjects in the mode of an interactive Chinese finger trap metaphor. Conversely, participants in the control context were taught a breathing retraining skill to gain control over their symptoms. Following the treatment, participants inhaled 7 % carbon dioxide-enriched air twice for 10 minutes. Avoidance was measured as latency to begin each carbon dioxide trial, drop-out, and return for a similar study. Self-report and physiological measures also were analyzed. Compared to control and no instruction participants, acceptance participants were less avoidant behaviorally and reported fewer catastrophic thoughts and less intense cognitive and fear symptoms during the trials. The implications are useful in refining our theoretical understanding of control, and may shed light on active mechanisms of change during psychological therapy for panic and other anxiety disorders.

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