CULTURALLY RELEVANT FACTORS IN THE BEHAVIORAL TREATMENT OF SOCIAL PHOBIA - A CASE-STUDY

A chronic and severe social phobic African American female was treated with social effectiveness therapy (SET) over a 4-month period of time . The exposure treatment program included racially relevant cues in th e imaginal material as well as in the in vivo settings. The patient ev idenced considerable improvement at posttreatment on a number of measu res, including achieving an endstate functioning status similar to tha t of normals. These gains were maintained at a 4-month follow-up. The findings are discussed in terms of the comprehensive treatment of soci al phobia and the importance of sociocultural variables in treatment.