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7 - CBT for Social Anxiety Disorder

from Part One - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety Disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2022

By
Henrik Nordahl  and
Adrian Wells
Edited by
Gillian Todd  and
Rhena Branch
Gillian Todd
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
Rhena Branch
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
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Summary

Clark and Wells advanced a cognitive model of social anxiety disorder (SAD) that has received substantial empirical support. The model accounts for the persistence of SAD with reference to a set of specific cognitive behavioral mechanisms involving feedback cycles that are responsible for maintaining the problem. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) derived from this model aims to address these mechanisms, which include, among others, maladaptive self-processing and styles of coping consisting of safety behaviors and anticipatory and post-event processing. The treatment is recognized as the treatment of choice in clinical guidelines. We present the Clark and Wells’s model of SAD in detail and describe how SAD can be treated with CBT. Furthermore, we address topics such as clinical management and assessment, research supporting CBT for SAD, and further developments based on the metacognitive model.

Keywords

social anxiety disordersocial phobiacognitive behavioral therapycognitive therapycognitive modelself-regulatory executive function modelbeliefsself-attentionsafety behaviorsmetacognition
Type
Chapter
Information
Evidence-Based Treatment for Anxiety Disorders and Depression
A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Compendium
 , pp. 115 - 135
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

Recommended Reading

Clark, D. M., & Wells, A. (1995). A cognitive model of social phobia. In Heimberg, R. G., Liebowitz, M. R., Hope, D. A., & Schneier, F. R. (Eds.), Social phobia: Diagnosis, assessment, and treatment (pp. 69–93). Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Mayo-Wilson, E., Dias, S., Mavranezouli, I., Kew, K., Clark, D. M., Ades, A. E., & Pilling, S. (2014). Psychological and pharmacological interventions for social anxiety disorder in adults: A systematic review and network meta-analysis. The Lancet Psychiatry, 1, 368–376.Google Scholar
Wells, A. (1997). Cognitive therapy of anxiety disorders: A practice manual and conceptual guide. John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Wells, A. (2007). Cognition about cognition: Metacognitive therapy and change in generalized anxiety disorder and social phobia. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 14, 18–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, A. (2009). Metacognitive therapy for anxiety and depression. Guilford Press.Google Scholar

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