EMOTIONAL PROCESSING IN COGNITIVE THERAPY AND VOCAL EXPRESSION OF FEELING

College students with unresolved traumatic experiences were given a brief course of cognitive therapy or asked to talk into a tape recorder. Both procedures were equally effective in reducing negative mood and negative thoughts, although cognitive therapy was somewhat more effective on one outcome measure. The arousal of negative affect was inversely related to positive outcome. The reduction of negative affect and, particularly, negative thoughts was positively related to outcome. In spite of similarities in outcome, the two procedures seemed to operate by somewhat different processes.