The efficacy of habituation in decreasing subjective distress among high anxiety-sensitive college students

While there is mounting evidence that the concept of anxiety sensitivity (A S) is linked to the expression of anxiety (specifically, panic), there has been little research comparing the efficacy of interoceptive exposure alone with interoceptive exposure coupled with cognitive restructuring among hig h AS participants. The present investigation addressed this issue in a samp le of high anxiety-sensitive college students (scores above 29 on the Anxie ty Sensitivity Index). Participants were randomly assigned to receive eithe r five consecutive trials of voluntary hyperventilation or five consecutive trials of hyperventilation with cognitive restructuring instructions,It wa s expected that while repeated hyperventilation would be associated with a significant reduction in self-reported anxiety, catastrophic cognitions, an d somatic sensations across trials, the greatest reduction in symptoms woul d occur with the addition of cognitive restructuring. These predictions wer e partially supported. As expected, high AS participants evidenced signific ant decreases in anxiety symptoms when habituation was accompanied by cogni tive restructuring. Contrary to predictions, however, interoceptive exposur e alone was not effective in reducing anxious symptoms. These results sugge st that brief habituation alone may not be an effective strategy for high A S participants and are discussed as providing further support for a cogniti ve model of anxiety. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.