Treatment of Anxiety about College Tests with Negative Practice and Systematic Desensitization: Some Negative Findings

Abstract

72 test-anxious subjects were assigned to three treatment groups and two control groups for 6 weekly sessions. Treatment conditions were negative practice with and without homework instructions and systematic desensitization. The two control conditions involved a psychoanalytically oriented attention-placebo group and a waiting-list, no-treatment group. There were no differences in grade point average between groups following treatment. Only the group given systematic desensitization showed improvement in self-reported test anxiety. These negative results are discussed in comparison to earlier findings. The need for measures of behavioral outcome is emphasized.