Albert Ellis's Rational Emotive Therapy (RET), which assumes that a person can change an emotional disturbance by discovering and disputing the irrational ideas giving rise to that emotion, has been used effectively in treating public speaking anxiety. To compare RET with other treatments for communication apprehension, 52 high communication apprehensive individuals were placed in three treatment groups. Group 1 supplemented the development of communication skills with RET training; group 2 used skills training and systematic desensitization, the relief of anxiety through relaxation techniques; and group 3 worked only on building students' communication skills. Comparisons of pretests and posttests revealed that while all three groups showed significant decreases in speech anxiety after the 4-month program, no group's results differed significantly from any of the others. In other words, all methods worked equally well. Further research is needed on the possible impact that the "Pygmalion" effect, achievement rising to meet student or teacher expectations, and the "Hawthorne" effect, productive change following attention to "lonely" students, have on findings. (MM)