Internet-Delivered Cognitive Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder: A Development Pilot Series
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Jennifer Wild; Sheena Liness; Georgina Bremner; Richard Stott; Emma Warnock-Parkes; David M. Clark; Anke Ehlers; Nick Grey; Jennifer Readings; Siobhan Commins; Elizabeth Woodward
- Source
- Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy
- Subject
- Male
050103 clinical psychology
medicine.medical_treatment
Feedback, Psychological
Video Recording
social anxiety disorder
Pilot Projects
CCBT
law.invention
Cohort Studies
0302 clinical medicine
Randomized controlled trial
law
Attention
05 social sciences
Social anxiety
General Medicine
3. Good health
Clinical Psychology
Treatment Outcome
Phobic Disorders
Time and Motion Studies
Cohort
Female
Psychology
safety behaviours
Clinical psychology
Adult
Video feedback
Accelerated Publication
behavioral disciplines and activities
03 medical and health sciences
medicine
Effective treatment
Humans
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Social Behavior
Internet
cognitive behaviour therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Internet delivered
Self Concept
030227 psychiatry
Telephone
fear of blushing
Therapy, Computer-Assisted
Secure messaging
Cognitive therapy
Social phobia
Follow-Up Studies
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1469-1833
1352-4658
Background: Randomized controlled trials have established that individual cognitive therapy based on the Clark and Wells (1995) model is an effective treatment for social anxiety disorder that is superior to a range of alternative psychological and pharmacological interventions. Normally the treatment involves up to 14 weekly face-to-face therapy sessions. Aim: To develop an internet based version of the treatment that requires less therapist time. Method: An internet-delivered version of cognitive therapy (iCT) for social anxiety disorder is described. The internet-version implements all key features of the face-to-face treatment; including video feedback, attention training, behavioural experiments, and memory focused techniques. Therapist support is via a built-in secure messaging system and by brief telephone calls. A cohort of 11 patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for social anxiety disorder worked through the programme and were assessed at pretreatment and posttreatment. Results: No patients dropped out. Improvements in social anxiety and related process variables were within the range of those observed in randomized controlled trials of face-to-face CT. Nine patients (82%) were classified as treatment responders and seven (64%) achieved remission status. Therapist time per patient was only 20% of that in face-to-face CT. Conclusions: iCT shows promise as a way of reducing therapist time without compromising efficacy. Further evaluation of iCT is ongoing.