A cognitive-behavior therapy applied to a social anxiety disorder and a specific phobia, case study

Abstract

George, a 23-year-old Greek student, was referred by a psychiatrist for treatment to a University Counseling Centre in Athens. He was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder and specific phobia situational type. He was complaining of panic attacks and severe symptoms of anxiety. These symptoms were triggered when in certain social situations and also when travelling by plane, driving a car and visiting tall buildings or high places. His symptoms lead him to avoid finding himself in such situations, to the point that it had affected his daily life. George was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder and with specific phobia, situational type (in this case acrophobia) and was given 20 individual sessions of cognitivebehavior therapy. Following therapy, and follow-up occurring one month post treatment, George no longer met the criteria for social phobia and symptoms leading to acrophobia were reduced. He demonstrated improvements in many areas including driving a car in and out of Athens and visiting tall buildings.

The Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Including Updating the Early Life Experiences and Images with the Empty Chair Technique on Social Anxiety

“…In accordance with this, iCBT is effective and has permanent effect. The results gathered are consistent with experimental studies using iCBT with socially anxious university students (Shorey & Stuart, 2012;Tsitsas & Paschali, 2014) and participants from different age groups (Datta & Das, 2016;Goldin et al, 2013;Goldin et al, 2012;Leigh & Clark, 2016;Narr & Teachman, 2017;Pinjarkar et al, 2015;Priyamvada et al, 2009;Weiss et al, 2011;Wootton et al, 2018;Yoshinaga, Ohshima, et al, 2013). In addition, the study of Leigh and Clark (2016), which includes interventions for early negative life experiences just like current study, is important in that respect.…”

Does controlled research on psychotherapy translate to naturalistic practice settings (effectiveness)?

“…Of those that exist, a randomized pilot study (Fawcett et al, 2020) that investigated the effectiveness of group versus individual CBT for anxiety and depression found a reduction in posttreatment Beck Anxiety Inventory scores in both group (n = 18) and individual treatment (n = 23) participants from baseline (M = 26.61, SD = 9.69) to immediately posttreatment (M = 18.68, SD = 13.24, equivalent to a Cohen' s d = 0.68, with 38 available participants completing the BAI). Case studies within this population have demonstrated successful implementation of CBT for specific phobia, with an emphasis on in vivo exposure; however, much more research is needed in this area (Tsitsas & Paschali, 2014).…”

The dynamic perspective versus the cognitive-behavioral perspective in counselling

“…CBT means more than identifying negative thought patterns, this therapy is focused on using strategies to help clients overcome these negative thoughts. As strategies, one can use journaling -creating a journal -, role play, relaxation techniques and mental distractions (Tsitsas & Paschali, 2014).…”