Comparing the Efficacy of Systematic Desensitization and expressive Desensitization on Generalized Anxiety Disorder and exam Anxiety among Students

The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of systematic desensitization and expressive desensitization on general anxiety and exam anxiety in students.

The present study was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test-post-test design and the statistical population was all high school students referred to a private psychology clinic in Mashhad in the first half of 2020 (suffering from generalized anxiety disorder with comorbid exam anxiety disorder) using the Cochran statistical formula 20 people with systematic desensitization method and 20 people with expressive desensitization method and 20 people in the control group were randomly assigned. The treatment was performed in 11 sessions of 90 minutes, weekly and individually for all individuals (except the control group) by the first author (with 8-month follow-up). Measurement tools included the Beck-II Anxiety and the Sarason exam Anxiety Questionnaires. Statistical analysis of data was performed using SPSS-23 software.

Multivariate analysis of covariance showed that systematic desensitization and expressive desensitization methods were effective in improving exam anxiety in the post-test and follow-up phase (8 months) (p <0.001) and also between the two experimental groups in post-test and follow-up scores (8 months) exam anxiety did not show a significant difference (p> 0.05). The results also showed that the expressive desensitization method significantly improved the general anxiety among subjects (p <0.001), but there was not observed a significant difference between the two groups of systematic desensitization and control group in the post-test and follow-up scores (8 months) (p <0.05).

expressive desensitization is an effective and new way to improve general anxiety disorder with and without correlation of exam anxiety.