The effect of paced diaphragmatic breathing on anxiety reduction in a socially phobic population

• Main Author: Webster, Bruce
• Other Authors: Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dept. of Psychology
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 1989
• Subjects: Breathing exercises > Therapeutic use; Anxiety; Newfoundland studies; University of Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses2/id/197680

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1989. Psychology Bibliography: leaves 66-74. The present research was suggested by evidence in the literature relating the presence of anxiety to rapid, shallow respiration. A five session behavioural therapy program which included respiration therapy (experimental group) was compared to a similar therapy program which did not include respiration therapy (control group), on a number of self-report, behavioural, and physiological variables. The research design was a pretest-posttest control group design with a one month follow-up. Subjects consisted of 18 self-referred, socially phobic adults, randomly assigned to one of the two conditions. Subjects met individually with the therapist for five one-hour sessions. The experimental program involved teaching of deep diaphragmatic breathing at a target rate of six cycles per minute as a relaxation technique and as a coping device for entering socially anxious situations. In addition, imaginal exposure, role play, and homework assignments of in-vivo exposure were practiced. The control program involved unstructured self-relaxation in combination with imaginal exposure, role play, and homework assignments of in-vivo exposure. All subjects participated in the Social Interaction Test (Marzillier, Lambert, & Kellet, 1976) which involved discussion with a stranger, before and after therapy, wherein behavioural and physiological activity was assessed. The experimental condition successfully reduced the experimental subject’s respiration rate within treatment sessions. Main effects were found for both treatment groups on all self-report and behavioural measures, and for several of the physiological variables. Multivariate repeated measure analyses of variance revealed the experimental program to be significantly more effective than the control program in decreasing one self-report measure of anxiety. It was concluded that respiration therapy did not provide additive effects in anxiety reduction when combined with imaginal exposure, role play, and homework assignments of in-vivo exposure. Limitations, implications, and contributions of this study are discussed.