People
with
social
anxiety
disorder
benefit
greatly
from
group
therapy
that
targets
the
negative
mental
images
they
have
of
themselves
and
others,
according
to
a
study
at
the
University
of
Waterloo.
Called
“imagery-enhanced”
cognitive
behavioural
therapy
(CBT),
the
new
group
treatment
helps
relieve
symptoms
including
social
performance
and
interaction
anxiety,
depression
and
stress.
More
than
four
million
Canadians
will
develop
social
anxiety
disorder
at
some
point
in
their
lives.
Without
treatment,
the
disorder
can
impair
people’s
functioning
at
school,
work
and
relationships.
“Research
has
shown
that
mental
imagery
is
strongly
connected
to
emotions,
and
many
people
living
with
social
anxiety
disorder
have
negative
images
of
themselves
that
perpetuate
their
symptoms,”
said
co-author
David
Moscovitch,
a
professor
of
psychology
at
Waterloo
and
executive
director
of
the
University
of
Waterloo
Centre
for
Mental
Health
Research
(CMHR).
“The benefits we’re seeing with this novel CBT group from before to after treatment are very large, with 4 out of every 5 of our patients reporting that their social anxiety symptoms were substantially reduced and interfering much less with their ability to function in their day-to-day lives.”
Researchers recruited people with a diagnosis of social anxiety disorder at the CMHR and the Centre for Clinic Interventions in Perth, Australia, where the therapy was originally developed. The 13-session treatment used specialized exercises including video feedback and imagery rescripting, where patients are guided to reimagine the outcomes of past negative experiences and to challenge distorted images of themselves and others.
The goal was to see if the successes achieved in a pilot and open trial could be replicated in a different setting — without input from the treatment developers. The results were strikingly similar in treatment retention and symptom improvement – strongly suggesting that imagery-enhanced group CBT is effective.
The study suggests that this new group therapy may work as well as individual therapy, but costs half as much per patient.
“These initial findings are very promising, as they suggest that there’s potential to reduce cost and improve access to evidence-based treatments that work,” said Moscovitch. “Many Canadians don’t have access to treatment they need because there aren’t enough well-trained clinicians and health care plans don’t provide sufficient coverage.”
The study, “Transportability of imagery-enhanced CBT for social anxiety disorder” appears in Behaviour Research and Therapy.