Anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent forms of mental illness. There is a great need to acquire techniques which effectively and rapidly treat anxiety. The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of affirmations aids in the reduction of anxiety. In addition, this study examined if the use of affirmations combined with relaxation music aids in the reduction of anxiety and examined if the use of relaxation music alone aids in the reduction of anxiety.
An experimental research design was used in this study. Three treatment groups were investigated and one control group. Each treatment group received a ten minute audio tape of either affirmations statements played alone (without relaxation music), affirmations statements played with relaxation music, or a ten minute audio tape of relaxation music alone. The control group was instructed to sit and wait for ten minutes. The Beck Anxiety Inventory was utilized to obtain anxiety scores. Pre and post-tests were administered to determine the extent to which the treatment reduced the anxiety scores. A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures was deemed suitable for these data.
There were modest reductions in anxiety scores among the affirmations groups (alone and with music) and the control group. The music only group dropped the most in anxiety and appears to be the treatment of choice when considering a non-invasive, easily accessible and effective treatment for anxiety. Recommendations were made for future research and implications for educators and counselors were discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:rtd-1885 |
| Date | 01 January 2003 |
| Creators | Karper, Christine Marie |
| Publisher | University of Central Florida |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Retrospective Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Written permission granted by copyright holder to the University of Central Florida Libraries to digitize and distribute for nonprofit, educational purposes. |
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