Future-Oriented Positive Mental Imagery Reduces Anxiety for Exposure to Public Speaking

E. Landkroon; E.A.M. van Dis; K. Meyerbröker; E. Salemink; M.A. Hagenaars; I.M. Engelhard

doi:10.1016/j.beth.2021.06.005

Future-Oriented Positive Mental Imagery Reduces Anxiety for Exposure to Public Speaking

E. Landkroon^*, E.A.M. van Dis, K. Meyerbröker, E. Salemink, M.A. Hagenaars, I.M. Engelhard

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Exposure therapy is the recommended treatment for anxiety disorders, but many anxious individuals are unwilling to expose themselves to feared situations. Episodic simulation of future situations contributes to adaptive emotion regulation and motivates behavior. This study investigated whether future-oriented positive mental imagery reduces anticipatory anxiety and distress during exposure, and increases exposure willingness and duration. Forty-three individuals with moderate public speaking anxiety were randomized to a standardized positive mental imagery exercise about future public speaking or no-task. All participants were then asked to present in a virtual reality environment. Anticipatory anxiety reduced in the positive mental imagery group, but not in the control group. Additionally, the positive mental imagery group reported lower distress during exposure than the control group, but groups did not differ in exposure willingness. Due to limited variance, effects on exposure duration could not be tested. Future-oriented positive mental imagery is promising to prepare individuals for exposure to previously avoided situations.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	80-91
Number of pages	12
Journal	Behavior Therapy
Volume	53
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2021.06.005
Publication status	Published - Jan 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This study is preregistered at the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/kap2w/). This research project was funded by a VICI grant (grant number: 453-15-005) awarded to Iris M. Engelhard by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). We are grateful to Nicole D. Montijn for her thoughtful comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript and to Marthe R. Egberts for recording the audio scripts. We thank Sven Jaske and Katharina Schab for their help with data collection. Elze Landkroon is now at Tilburg University.

Funding Information:
This study is preregistered at the Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/kap2w/ ). This research project was funded by a VICI grant (grant number: 453-15-005) awarded to Iris M. Engelhard by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). We are grateful to Nicole D. Montijn for her thoughtful comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript and to Marthe R. Egberts for recording the audio scripts. We thank Sven Jaske and Katharina Schab for their help with data collection. Elze Landkroon is now at Tilburg University.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021

Funding

? This study is preregistered at the Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/kap2w/). This research project was funded by a VICI grant (grant number: 453-15-005) awarded to Iris M. Engelhard by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). We are grateful to Nicole D. Montijn for her thoughtful comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript and to Marthe R. Egberts for recording the audio scripts. We thank Sven Jaske and Katharina Schab for their help with data collection. Elze Landkroon is now at Tilburg University. This study is preregistered at the Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/kap2w/ ). This research project was funded by a VICI grant (grant number: 453-15-005) awarded to Iris M. Engelhard by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). We are grateful to Nicole D. Montijn for her thoughtful comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript and to Marthe R. Egberts for recording the audio scripts. We thank Sven Jaske and Katharina Schab for their help with data collection. Elze Landkroon is now at Tilburg University.

Keywords

anxiety disorders
episodic future thinking
positive mental imagery
public speaking anxiety
virtual reality exposure therapy

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10.1016/j.beth.2021.06.005Licence: CC BY

1-s2.0-S0005789421000824-mainFinal published version, 391 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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abstract = "Exposure therapy is the recommended treatment for anxiety disorders, but many anxious individuals are unwilling to expose themselves to feared situations. Episodic simulation of future situations contributes to adaptive emotion regulation and motivates behavior. This study investigated whether future-oriented positive mental imagery reduces anticipatory anxiety and distress during exposure, and increases exposure willingness and duration. Forty-three individuals with moderate public speaking anxiety were randomized to a standardized positive mental imagery exercise about future public speaking or no-task. All participants were then asked to present in a virtual reality environment. Anticipatory anxiety reduced in the positive mental imagery group, but not in the control group. Additionally, the positive mental imagery group reported lower distress during exposure than the control group, but groups did not differ in exposure willingness. Due to limited variance, effects on exposure duration could not be tested. Future-oriented positive mental imagery is promising to prepare individuals for exposure to previously avoided situations.",

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Future-Oriented Positive Mental Imagery Reduces Anxiety for Exposure to Public Speaking

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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Keywords

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