The present study was designed to examine the effectiveness of post-experimental debriefing in reducing both self-reported anxiety and physiological arousal among participants who differed in their characteristic responses to threat. One hundred five female undergraduates were classified according to their Repression-Sensitization type and were presented with threatening self-relevant information. Self-report measures of anxiety were then obtained and were supplemented by the monitoring of physiological response. As expected, repressives alone demonstrated a discrepancy between physiological and self-reported distress levels in response to the threatening information. Following debriefing, all participants types returned to baseline levels on both distress measures. It was concluded that debriefing can effectively ameliorate the negative consequences of distress resulting from experimental participation, even among persons whose self-reports characteristically misrepresent their true reactions. (Author)