Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-rvbq7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-10T14:11:07.841Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Anxiety Control Training

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Anxiety pervades every aspect of human activity and experience. It is a normal state and a spur to action, but readily exceeds normal limits in intensity, duration and appropriateness to the stimulus or situation. Anxiety is manifest by the mood of fearfulness, behaviour marked by restlessness and avoidance of situations, increased arousal with insomnia, excessive preoccupation with thoughts on the theme of insecurity, and a wide range of somatic symptoms which are based on muscular tension, hyperventilation leading to paraesthesiae and faintness, and symptoms based on overactivity of the autonomic nervous system. Excessive anxiety and situational avoidance leads to diminution of performance and limitation of endeavour. In the context of physical illness, anxiety increases the distress of symptoms, may confuse diagnostic procedure, prolong recovery time from acute illness, cause failure to comply with effective treatment and promote destructive habits such as reliance on alcohol or excessive use of sedative drugs.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 1994 

References

Bandura, A. (1977) Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavior change. Psychological Review, 84, 191215.Google Scholar
Benson, H. (1975) The Relaxation Response. New York: Morrow.Google Scholar
Benson, H., Beary, J. F. & Carol, M. (1974) The relaxation response. Psychiatry, 37, 3746.Google Scholar
Carrington, P. (1987) Managing meditation in clinical practice. In The Psychology of Meditation (ed. West, M. A.) pp. 150172. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Delmonte, M. M. (1985) Meditation and anxiety reduction: a literature review. Clinical Psychology Review, 5, 91102.Google Scholar
Fahrion, S. L. & Norris, P. A. (1990) Self-regulation of anxiety. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 54, 217231.Google Scholar
Goldfried, M. R. (1971) Systematic desensitization as training in self-control. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 37, 228234.Google Scholar
Jacobson, E. (1938) Progressive Relaxation. Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Liebowitz, M. R. (1989) Antidepressants in panic disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 155 (suppl. 6), 4652.Google Scholar
Lindal, L. & Stefansson, J. G. (1993) The lifetime prevalence of anxiety disorders in Iceland as estimated by the US National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 88, 3944.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Linden, W. (1990) Autogenic Training: A Clinical Guide. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Modigh, K. (1987) Antidepressant drugs in anxiety disorders. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 76 (suppl. 335), 5771.Google Scholar
Revel, K. F., Baer, P. E. & Cleveland, S. E. (1988) Theoretical orientation: stress management as a self-control strategy. In Stress Management for Chronic Disease (ed. Russell, M. L.) pp. 180182. Oxford: Pergamon (General Psychology Series).Google Scholar
Schultz, J. H. (1932) Das Autogene Training (Konzentrative Selbstentspannung). Leipzig: Thieme.Google Scholar
Shapiro, D. A. (1987) Implications of psychotherapy research for the study of meditation. In The Psychology of Meditation (ed. West, M. A.) pp. 173190. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Shapiro, D. A. & Firth-Cozens, J. (1990) Two year follow-up of the Sheffield psychotherapy project. British Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 389391.Google Scholar
Shapiro, D. H. (1982) Overview: clinical and physiological comparison of meditation with other self-control strategies. American Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 267274.Google Scholar
Sims, A. C. P. & Snaith, R. P. (1988) Anxiety in Clinical Practice. Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Snaith, R. P. (1991) Clinical Neurosis (2nd edn). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Snaith, R. P., Owens, D. & Kennedy, E. (1992) An outcome study of a brief anxiety management programme: Anxiety Control Training. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, 9, 111114.Google Scholar
Suinn, R. M. & Richardson, F. (1971) Anxiety management training: a non-specific behavior therapy program for anxiety control. Behavioral Therapy, 2, 498510.Google Scholar
Vàzquez, M. I. & Buceta, J. M. (1993) Effectiveness of self management programmes and relaxation training in the treatment of bronchial asthma: relationship with trait anxiety and emotional attack triggers. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 37, 7181.Google Scholar
Velikova, G., Selby, P. J., Snaith, R. P. et al (1995) The relationship of cancer pain to anxiety. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, in press.Google Scholar
West, M. A. (1987) The Psychology of Meditation. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Wolpe, J. (1958) Psychotherapy By Reciprocal Inhibition. California: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.