Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing in the treatment of test anxiety:  A study of the effects of expectancy and eye movement

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a recently invented technique acclaimed as a major breakthrough for a range of anxiety-related symptoms. To determine the importance of the eye movement and expectancy variables, we conducted a one-hour session with 41 undergraduate subjects (11 males and 30 females) with test anxiety. A 2 (eye movement vs no eye movement) x 2 (high expectancy vs low expectancy) analysis of variance was performed on 3 dependent measures: (1) Subjective Units of Disturbance Scale (SUDs); (2) Validity of Cognition Scale (VOC); and (3) the Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI). The data indicate that all subjects, regardless of treatment condition, showed a significant decrease in anxiety on the TAI. Subjects in the eye-movement condition reported feeling less anxious (SUDs) than those in the no-eye-movement condition. We found no significant main effect or interactions for any of the dependent measures for expectancy.

Journal

English

Phillip Gosselin
William J. Matthews

Gosselin, P., & Matthews, W. J. (1995, December). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing in the treatment of test anxiety: A study of the effects of expectancy and eye movement. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 26(4), 331-337. doi:10.1016/0005-7916(95)00038-0