| Abstract: | Hypothesized a linear relationship in psychotherapeutic groups between verbal behavior (defined as the level of communication) and experienced anxiety. However, trained judges' ratings of 6 2-hr tape-recorded group sessions revealed a curvilinear relationship between these 2 variables. The maximum level of anxiety occurred on the border of communication of private and unknown-self material. When communication increased above these levels, the anxiety tended to decrease. This is explained in terms of S. Epstein's 1967 finding that bodily arousal and experienced anxiety increase progressively to a certain stimulus intensity level. Then, with still increasing stimulus intensity, the bodily arousal and physiological anxiety will continue to increase while the experienced anxiety will tend to decrease because of the intervention of certain inhibitory mechanisms. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
