Stress inoculation therapy with anxiety and stress disorders of acute psychiatric inpatients

• Published in: Journal of clinical psychology 1986-11, Vol.42 (6), p.864-872
• Main Author: Holcomb, William R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Anxiety Disorders - diagnosis; Anxiety Disorders - therapy; Biological and medical sciences; Combined Modality Therapy; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Personality Tests; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychotherapy; Psychotropic Drugs - therapeutic use; Stress, Psychological - diagnosis; Stress, Psychological - therapy; Treatments
• ISSN: 0021-9762; 1097-4679
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-4679(198611)42:6<864::AID-JCLP2270420606>3.0.CO;2-B

Twenty‐six consecutive inpatient psychiatric admissions with severe stress and anxiety disorders were assigned to three treatment groups: (1) stress inoculation therapy; (2) a combination of stress inoculation and medication therapy; and (3) medication therapy. The dependent measures indicate that stress inoculation therapy was superior to chemotherapy from pre‐ to posttesting and from baseline to posttesting in reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and overall subjective distress. In a 3‐year follow‐up, subjects in the stress inoculation therapy group tended to require fewer readmissions for psychiatric problems than the other treatment groups. It is proposed that stress inoculation therapy is effective in reducing symptoms of severe anxiety and stress reactions of acute psychiatric inpatients and that medication sometimes may have an inhibitive effect upon possible gains through psychotherapy.