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Experimental induction of anxious and depressed moods: Are Velten and musical procedures necessary?

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Abstract

We tested the relative effectiveness of Velten and musical procedures for inducing anxious and depressed moods in normal subjects. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: instructions to get into the target mood, instructions plus Velten, instructions plus music, instructions plus Velten plus music. Subjects underwent an anxiety induction and a depression induction, both involving the same induction procedure. There were no reliable differences among induction procedures: All significantly produced increases on self-report and behavioral measures of the target moods. These findings suggest that at least some subjects can achieve mood changes without the benefit of formal mood induction procedures (e.g., Velten, music).

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Data presented in this article were part of a dissertation written by the first author, and supervised by the second author. This research was supported by a grant from the Henry and Ramsey Pevsner Fund in Neuropsychology and Behavioral Medicine awarded to Jonathan P. Slyker, and National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH43809 awarded to Richard J. McNally.

The authors thank Philip A. Saigh, Gwendolyn Gerber, Constance Katz, Susan Oyama, and Jack Zlotnick for allowing us to recruit their students as subjects. We also appreciate the assistance of Scott Bessmer, Jimmy Cicenia, and Temmie Shade. The helpful comments of three anonymous reviewers are gratefully acknowledged.

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Slyker, J.P., McNally, R.J. Experimental induction of anxious and depressed moods: Are Velten and musical procedures necessary?. Cogn Ther Res 15, 33–45 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01172941

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