| Abstract: | 15 male and 5 female patients (mean age, 28 yrs) at a speech and hearing center were given either no treatment or 8 45-min intensive rational-emotive (R-E) or systematic desensitization (SD) therapy sessions with or without in vivo tasks. In vivo behavioral tasks included 5 telephone calls to persons defined as significant acquaintances by Ss and 5 spontaneous discussions with relative strangers. Assessment measures (TAT, Institute for Personality and Ability Testing Anxiety Scale, and Iowa Scale of Attitudes Toward Stuttering) were administered before, immediately and 1 mo after treatment. R-E therapy was more efficacious than SD in reducing stuttering behavior as well as accompanying anxiety and negative attitudes toward stuttering. SD, however, did fare better than no treatment (control) in reducing speech disfluencies. The inclusion of in vivo tasks did not have consistent effects across all criterion measures but did add to both therapies in influencing attitudes toward problem speech in the desired directions. Results favor a cognitive-behavioral approach to stuttering over a traditional behavioral approach. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
