Treatment of Social Phobia With Cognitive Bias Modification

Umeå University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Social Phobia

Treatments: Behavioral: CBM training program variant 4; Behavioral: Cognitive bias modification training program variant 2; Behavioral: Control training variant 1; Behavioral: Control training variant 2; Behavioral: Cognitive bias modification training program variant 1; Behavioral: CBM training program variant 3

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01577303

Attention training

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to determine whether different internet-based treatment programs, consisting of cognitive bias modification, reduce symptoms of social phobia among a population diagnosed with this disorder.

Full description

Previous studies have shown that individuals with social phobia have attention biases, often focusing on aversive stimuli or avoiding aversive stimuli. Computerized training programs have been developed to implicitly direct the users attention towards a neutral, non-threatening stimuli. In this study, such a program will be provided to 128 participants that meet the diagnostic criteria for social phobia. It will be compared with a program that implicitly directs the users' attention towards threatening cues. Pre/post-measurements will be compared. Participants will be randomized to one of three groups, receiving one of the two variants of the cognitive bias modification program or a control training.

Enrollment: 129 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Written informed consent provided
• Diagnosed social phobia (according to DSM-IV criteria)
• Access to computer with internet connection, and printer

Exclusion criteria

• Severe depression (and/or suicidal behavior)
• Addiction and/or abuse
• Suffer from other severe psychiatric condition (e.g. psychosis)
• Non-stable use of medication
• Undergoing other, parallel psychological treatment

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

---

129 participants in 6 patient groups

CBM training program variant 1

Experimental group

Description:

Attention training towards positive cues using words as stimuli

Treatment:

Behavioral: Cognitive bias modification training program variant 1

CBM training program variant 2

Experimental group

Description:

Attention training towards positive cues using words and faces as stimuli

Treatment:

Behavioral: Cognitive bias modification training program variant 2

CBM training program variant 3

Experimental group

Description:

Attention training towards negative using words as stimuli

Treatment:

Behavioral: CBM training program variant 3

CBM training program variant 4

Experimental group

Description:

Attention training towards negative using words and faces

Treatment:

Behavioral: CBM training program variant 4

Control training variant 1

Experimental group

Description:

Control training condition using words as stimuli

Treatment:

Behavioral: Control training variant 1

Control training variant 2

Experimental group

Description:

Control training condition using words and faces as stimuli

Treatment:

Behavioral: Control training variant 2