Anxiety during the stressful medical procedure of endoscopy was studied as a function of the number of prior viewings of an explicit preparation videotape and of repression-sensitization coping style. Sixty naive patients veiwed a videotaped endoscopy either zero, one, or three times. Dependent measures included heart rate, behavioral ratings, tranquilizer required, and self-report. On each dependent measure, three viewings generally resulted in the least distress; one, more distress; and zero, the most distress. Most comparisons reached statistical significance. These results are interpreted as resulting from extinction and/or habituation of anxiety. The repression-sensitization factor interacted with heart rate change. Sensitizers showed a monotonic decrease in heart rate as a function of number of tape exposures. Repressers showed an inverted-U-shaped function, with one viewing producing the highest heart rate; this is interpreted as resulting from a disruption of repressing defenses by one tape exposure followed by extinction of fear by three exposures.Preparation-for-stress messages have generally proved effective in reducing the emotional trauma of stressful real-life experiences (e.g.,

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