The contributions of eye movements to the efficacy of brief exposure treatment for reducing fear of public speaking

The present study was designed to isolate the effects of the eye-movement c omponent of the Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) proced ure in the treatment of fear of public speaking. Seventy-one undergraduate psychology students who responded in a fearful manner on the Fear Survey Sc hedule II and on a standardized, self-report measure of public speaking anx iety (Personal Report of Confidence as a Speaker; PRCS) were randomly assig ned to one of four groups in a 2 x 2 factorial design. The two independent variables assessed were treatment condition (imagery plus eye movements vs. imagery alone) and type of imagery (fear-relevant us. relaxing). Dependent variables assessed were self-reported and physiological anxiety during exp osure and behavioral indices of anxiety while giving a speech. Although pro cess measures indicated exposure to fear-relevant imagery increased anxiety during the procedure, no significant differences among groups were found o n any of the outcome measures, except that participants who received eye mo vements were less likely to give a speech posttreatment than participants w ho did not receive eye movements. Addition of the eye movements to the expe rimental procedure did not result in enhancement of fear reduction. It was concluded, consistent with the results of past research, that previously re ported positive effects of the EMDR procedure may be largely due to exposur e to conditioned stimuli. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserve d.