By Akubueze, Timothy
This study was designed to investigate the effects of selected counselling models
namely systematic desensitization, cognitive behaviour modification and
combination of these two counselling models on clients with anxiety. The study
covered Enugu State of Nigeria. Three research questions were asked and three
null hypotheses fc~rrr~ulialec1l0 gc.litle the study. It was hypothesized that there
would be no significant effect of imagery with skeletal muscle relaxation as
propert'ses of systerna'tic desensitization on levels of decrease of anxiety
rec;p(.u!u;t: -HI i.mg c'fients and that the effect of imagery with disputation of
irrational self-talk as atlrrbutes of cognitive behaviour modification on levels of
decrease of anxiety among clients would not be significant. The effect of
combination of imagery with skeletal muscle relaxation and disputation of
irrational self-talk on clients with anxiety was qlso investigated. Twenty four
clients with anxiety related to frustrated basic human needs and unrealistic
expectations or neurotic needs drawn from four counselling centres in Enugu
State participated in the study. In each counselling centre six clients were
purposively drawn and assigned to three treatment and one control groups
respectively. Simple random sampling technique was used to assign subjects to
the treatment and the control groups. The instrument for data collection was
anxiety rating scale (ARS). The instrument was construct validated. The reliability
of the instrument was established using stability measures. Mean statistics was
used to answer the research questions while analysis of covariance (ANCOVA)
was used to test the hypotheses at .05 level of significance. The results showed
that cognitive :Ir~udifi cation, systematic desensitization and the
combination of these two counselling models significantly decreased clients
levels r.lf anxiety respectively. However from the mean anxiety ratings the
corr~t~iriri: wy:kei~.iatEc clesensitization and cognitive behaviour modification
cour~sell~nryn odel was the rnost effective in the treatrner~to f anxiety, while
systematic desensitization was the least effective. Based on the findings a few
recommendations were highlighted. The recommendations included learning of
the counselling methods by counsellors for their effective utilization in their areas
of work, provision of facilities and enabling environment by the government for
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----------- - - sxrying out the coonsetling models in schools and counselling centres,
sponsoring further research on the counselling models as well as organization of
workshops for teachers, industrialists and all in helping profession to familarize
them with the essence of these treatment models.