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Natural Stress Relief meditation, a mental technique which is practiced for 15 minutes twice a day, aims to reduce stress and anxiety by eliciting a specific state of physiological rest along with mental alertness. The meditation is taught in a self-administered program, requiring one hour of training during the first three days, followed by the regular twice daily practice. Each 15-min. session consists in sitting quietly with closed eyes while applying a specific mental procedure. To test the effectiveness of meditation in reducing trait anxiety, Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was administered to 25 participants four times over a 3-wk. period: one week before starting to practice the meditation, a few hours before starting, 1 wk. after, and 2 wk. after. The difference in Trait Anxiety score between pretreatment and before starting the practice was not significant, while it was significant both after the first week of practice (Cohen d= .46) and after the first 2 wk. of practice (d = .67).

This study assessed trauma-related sequelae of 56 highly anxious patients attending a dental fear clinic. It was also examined whether such symptomatology interferes with anxiety reduction in response to a cognitive-behavioral treatment approach. About 34 patients (59%) indicated that they had experienced one or more aversive dental events that could explain the onset of their dental anxiety. There was no difference between the dental anxiety scores of patients who reported such a background and those who did not. Severity of trauma-related symptomatology was indexed by the Impact of Event Scale (IES). The mean IES score of patients with a traumatically induced dental fear was remarkably high (33.0; SD=19.7). Furthermore, there was a strong direct relationship between severity of trauma-related symptomatology and severity of dental anxiety (shared variance was 38%). Two patients (10%) met all DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) on the basis of the Self-Rating Scale for PTSD. However, no evidence was found to suggest that either a traumatic background, or level of trauma-related symptomatology, has a negative effect on treatment outcome. Keywords: Specific phobia; Dental phobia; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Traumatic stress

The authors investigated the effect of music on the state anxiety of a sample of 20 patients awaiting breast biopsy at a suburban medical facility. The patients were assigned alternately to either the control or experimental group. The individuals in the experimental group were given a 20-minute music-based intervention in a preoperative holding area, whereas the patients in the control group received the customary preoperative care. Clinicians measured blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration in both groups of patients, and the participants completed the State portion of the self-administered State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). After the patients completed the 20 minutes of music or of preoperative care without music, clinicians again measured the participants' vital signs and the patients completed the STAI. The authors' findings indicated that the posttest state anxiety and respiratory rates of the patients in the experimental group were significantly lower than those of the patients in the control group. Index Terms: anxiety, breast biopsy, music, parameters, physiological reactions, Music has gained support in today's literature as an intervention for decreasing anxiety levels in a variety of clinical situations. For example, the side effects of chemotherapy have been reduced [...]

Holding environments are interpersonal relationships in the work environment that allow employees to manage situations that would otherwise trigger severe anxiety. This article describes conditions that lead to creating holding environments and the places where they can fail.

Measures of perceived control over different, specific spheres of an individual's life may form more homogeneous constructs than measures of a broad, general locus of control. Along these lines, it is likely that anxiety and the anxiety disorders may be characterized by a lack of perceived control over particular events and occurrences such as certain internal emotional reactions or externally threatening events. The present study was aimed at developing a questionnaire to measure this construct. Initial item selection was based on data from 250 anxious subjects. Reliability and factor-structure were replicated with a nonclinical group. The scale showed good inter-item and test-retest reliability as well as good discriminant and convergent validity. The scale appears promising for clinical application and for use in studies on the nature and treatment of anxiety and related disorders.