Effects of worry and progressive relaxation on the reduction of fear in speech phobia: An investigation of situational exposure

Previous research has demonstrated the facilitative effects of relaxation a nd inhibitory effects of worry on the emotional processing of imaginal fear exposures. The present study was designed to determine whether these same effects occur in the emotional processing of in vivo exposures to feared st imuli. Forty-two speech-anxious college students were randomly assigned to one of three experimental induction conditions. Participants engaged in eit her progressive muscle relaxation, a neutral control procedure, or worry im mediately before each of five repeated speech presentations while heart per iod and self-reported fear were monitored. Relative to the relaxation condi tion, the worry group demonstrated greater subjective anxiety across exposu res, despite the fact that all three groups displayed strong and equivalent cardiovascular response to the first speech presentation and showed equiva lent heart rate decreases across the repeated presentations. The role of pa rasympathetic activity in fear reduction was also documented, with decrease d parasympathetic activity occurring during initial fear exposure and incre ased activity across repeated presentations. Implications for the role of r elaxation and worry during real-life exposure to feared social situations a re discussed.