Emotion Regulation Training During the Preparation for the Basic State Examination (OGE): Case Analysis

The article describes a clinical psychological case research of emotional self-regulation training during the process of preparation to the Russian General State Exam. There are presented theoretical and methodological foundations of the cognitive behavioral therapy protocol for children’s and adolescents’ phobic anxiety disorders treatment (by the example of panic attacks experience).The aim of the study. Investigation of the anxiety dynamics during the process of cognitive behavioral therapy of anxiety issues amongst adolescents.The context and relevance of the study. The problem of an anxiety increase amongst adolescents and the need for emotionally stable behavior development at the time of solving important life tasks such as General State Exam are still up to date. The treatment is based on cognitive behavioral psychotherapy and the principle of neuroplasticity. The knowledge of cognitive and behavioral theories of panic disorder, panic neurobiological foundations, components of the cognitive behavioral therapy general protocol for children’s and adolescents’ phobic anxiety disorders treatment (working with parents and informing them; cognitive block: working with assumptions about clients’ own personality and the world around, self-esteem and self-confidence, and perfectionism; self-help techniques: muscle relaxation and breathing exercises, emotional expression ad regulation; behavioral block: desensibilization and gradual exposure in-vivo & in-vitro, coping strategies and skills) allows to plan therapy process with a client.The design of the study. We use the case-study design and present the case analysis. As the stress factor there are considered training variants of the Russian General State Exam. As the dependent variable are measured attitudes toward these tests including markers of the anxiety and intensity of experienced panic attacks.Methods. Conceptualization, mood scale. We organize the psychotherapy treatment for gaining emotional regulation experience during panic attacks, present the content of therapy sessions, home tasks, and fragments of dialogues between the psychotherapist and adolescent.Results. The effect of the psychotherapy process of emotional stabilization is discovered. Also there is presented the effectiveness of the psychotherapy plan that includes cooperation with parents and teachers, self-monitoring, use of the STOP technique and technique of cognitive regulation, breathing relaxation; metaphors of a good and bad companion in correlation with positive and negative (catastrophic) thoughts.