Comparative contributions of cognitive behaviour therapy strategies in the treatment of speech anxiety

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Abstract
The contribution of change strategies incorporated in cognitive behaviour therapy treatment packages has been inadequately investigated. The aim of this present research was to investigate, in two experiments, major components of cognitive behaviour therapy. The first treated individual strategies as separate experimental treatment interventions and ranked their effectiveness in alleviating speech anxiety. The second study evaluated treatment efficacy as a function of combining the experimental interventions. Both experiments utilized a 6‐mth follow‐up period. It was found that the provision of insight into the general form of maladaptive self‐statements with rehearsal of non‐demanding goal orientated self‐statements was the most powerful strategy working towards behavioural change in both experiments. Socratic dialogue was associated with a deterioration of treatment effect observed in combined treatment conditions. The extent to which these findings support current rationales underlying the efficacy of current cognitive behaviour therapies was discussed and further investigation outlined.