title: Treatment of fear of blushing, sweating, or trembling. Results at long-term follow-up.
abstract: This study investigated the long-term effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral treatments for patients with a specific type of social phobia: fear of showing bodily symptoms (blushing, sweating, or trembling). Patients were reassessed 18 months after they had finished one of the following treatments: (a) exposure in vivo followed by cognitive therapy, (b) cognitive therapy followed by exposure in vivo, or (c) a cognitive-behavioral treatment in which both strategies were integrated from the start. All patients were individually treated. Self-report assessments were held before and after treatment and at 3-month and 18-month follow-ups. Repeated measures MANOVAs for the patients who completed the 18-month follow-up (n = 26) demonstrated significant time effects from pretest to follow-up, indicating overall improvement. Between the posttest 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scholing
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Emmelkamp
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D001821:Blushing / Q000523:psychology*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003887:Desensitization, Psychologic / Q000379:methods; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D011617:Psychotherapy, Rational-Emotive / Q000379:methods; D012931:Social Environment; D013546:Sweating; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014202:Tremor / Q000523:psychology*