Comparative efficacy of biofeedback and stress inoculation for stress reduction

Evaluated the comparative effectiveness of frontalis electromyographic (EMG) biofeedback, a primarily somatic intervention, and stress inoculation, a self-instructional form of cognitive-behavior therapy. Both treatments were compared with a waiting list control group on systolic and diastolic blood pressure, the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, and the Teaching Anxiety Scale (N = 24). Multivariate assessment on all four dependent measures indicated that both the frontalis feedback and stress inoculation groups improved significantly more than the no treatment control, but did not differ overall from one another. The stress inoculation group showed more improvement in self-reported anxiety than the EMG group, while the EMG group tended to do better than the stress inoculation group on blood pressure measures. The untreated control group regressed somewhat across all measures. It was proposed that each treatment may have specific effects that might suggest which treatment would be indicated for a particular client.