Trends in Anxiety Assessment

Trends in anxiety assessment were established by examining the methods reported in anxiety-related papers published in three prominent behavior therapy journals from 1970 to 2002. Assessment methods were categorized using Lang's three-system concept of anxiety (P. J. Lang, 1968) as an organizational framework. Analysis of the research methods suggests two primary patterns. First, multisystem assessment declined in the last several years by comparison with previous years whereas the assessment of a single response system (typically self-report) has increased. Second, among anxiety-related papers reporting multimodal assessment, physiological assessment returned to 1970s-era frequency in recent years after an upsurge in the mid-1980s and early 1990s. Some possible interpretations and implications of these trends are discussed.