The Implementation of a Large..scale Program of Systematic Desensitization for Communication Apprehension

James C. McCroskey is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Speech Communication at West Virginia University. He supervised the systematic desensitization program at Illinois State University the past three years after originating and supervising a similar program for two years at Michigan State University. 1 Gordon L. Paul, Insight vs. Desensitization in Psychotherapy: An Experiment in Anxiety Reduction (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1966); Gordon L. Paul, "Two-year Follow-up of Systematic Desensitization in Therapy Groups," Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 73 (1968),119130; O. Kondas, "Reduction of Examination Anxiety and 'Stage-Fright' by Group Desensitization and Relaxation," Behavior Research and Therapy, 5 (1967), 275-281; James C. McCroskey, David C. Ralph, and James E. Barrick, "The Effect of Systematic Desensitization on Speech Anxiety," Speech Teacher, 19 (1970), 32-36; Jack G. Nichols, "An Investigation of the Effects of Varied Rates of Training on Systematic Desc:nsitization for Interpersonal Communication Apprehension" (unpubl. Ph.D. diss., Michigan State University, 1969); Charles D. Ertle, "A Study of the Effect of Homogeneous Grouping on Systematic Desensitization for the Reduction of Interpersonal Communication Apprehension" (unpubl. Ph.D. diss., Michigan State University, research is that SD is a highly effective method for assisting students to overcome communication a.pprehension; at least it is highly effective when administered in a carefully controlled, laboratory setting. No research has been re ported indicating whether these laboratory results can be generalized to conditions which normally obtain in the regular college or secondary school environment.