Maintenance of Cognitive Drill Therapy Gains in Test Anxiety: A Pilot Study

Cognitive Drill Therapy (CDT) relies on verbal exposure to feared disastrous consequences. The cognition of feared outcomes are generated and then time perspective of feared cognition is changed into the present or past which is required to be repeated many times until there is substantial drop in the felt anxiety. This form of exposure has yielded therapeutic benefits in cases of phobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. In the present pilot study, our aim was to examine the role of verbal exposure of feared outcomes in test anxiety of the students enrolled in coaching centre for preparation of entrance examination of professional degrees such as Engineering and Medical. A sample of 20 participants was drawn which was allocated to two sub-groups (a) Study Group (n=10) and (b) Control Group (n=10). The study group received sessions of verbal exposure and control group was not exposed to any treatment. The results suggest that the test anxiety scores of study group dropped significantly which were maintained over follow up. The implications and scope for future studies are outlined.