TREATMENT OF FEAR OF BLUSHING, SWEATING, OR TREMBLING - RESULTS AT LONG-TERM FOLLOW-UP

This study investigated the long-term effectiveness of cognitive-behav ioral treatments for patients with a specific type of social phobia: f ear of showing bodily symptoms (blushing, sweating, or trembling). Pat ients were reassessed 18 months after they had finished one of the fol lowing treatments: (a) exposure in vivo followed by cognitive therapy, (b) cognitive therapy followed by exposure in vivo, or (c) a cognitiv e-behavioral treatment in which both strategies were integrated from t he start. All patients were individually treated. Self-report assessme nts were held before and after treatment and at 3-month and 18-month f ollow-ups. Repeated measures MANOVAs for the patients who completed th e 18-month follow-up (n = 26) demonstrated significant time effects fr om pretest to follow-up, indicating overall improvement. Between the p osttest and the 18-month follow-up, no significant change was observed . No differences among the treatment packages were found although the cognitive-exposure treatment showed a trend to be less effective than both other treatments.