Research in clinical process and outcome methodology: psychophysiology, systematic desensitization and dental fear.

Eleven dental phobics were treated with a modified systematic desensitization procedure which included EMG biofeedback and videotaped scene presentations. During treatment, multiple psychophysiological recordings as well as subjective and psychometric assessments of mood were made. Intraindividual correlations between process variables were, to a large extent, idiosyncratic. Variance in treatment outcome could be accounted for by change-over treatment sessions of psychometrically assessed mood (R2 = .76) alone or in combination with change-over treatment sessions of minimum heart rate (R2 = .84). The process variable correlation patterns indicate a need for much more multivariate methodological research.