| Popis: |
High rates of relapse, mixed efficacy of existing interventions and limited access to care for individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) highlight the need for novel avenues of intervention. Emotional working memory training (eWMT) shows potential as a treatment option for SAD. This study examined the effect of fifteen 20-minute sessions of eWMT against a six-lesson course of internet-based cognitive behaviour therapy (iCBT), a form of gold-standard CBT, on social anxiety, depression, and generalised anxiety symptoms in an adult sample with SAD. Forty-two participants with diagnosed SAD were randomly allocated to eWMT (n = 21) or iCBT (n = 21). Following diagnosis, participants completed social anxiety, depression, and generalised anxiety measures at pre- and post-interventions. Intention-to-treat and per protocol analyses showed a significant reduction in social anxiety, depression, and generalised anxiety symptoms from pre- to post-interventions for both eWMT and iCBT, with no advantage of iCBT over eWMT. Overall, this proof-of-principle study shows that eWMT has the potential to be a stand-alone treatment for SAD. |
