Effects of Meta-Cognitive Therapy on Symptoms of Social Phobia Patients

Abstract

Introduction & Objective: Social phobia is an anxiety disorder, which can be described as a strong, persisting fear of situations where humiliation or embarrassment may occur. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of meta-cognitive therapy (MCT) on symptoms of social phobia (SP) patients. Materials & Methods: This semi-experimental study was conducted in 2010. with pretest-posttest and follow-up design, using control group. From all social phobia disorder (SPD) patients referring to psychology clinics in Shiraz, Iran in 2010, 19 patients were selected through the objective sampling method and were randomly divided into two experimental and control groups. The Social Phobia Symptoms Assessment Questioner (SPSAQ) and Fears of Negative Evaluation Scale (FNE) were used as the pre–test measures. The experimental group received 8 weeks of Wells’ meta-cognitive therapy sessions. The control group was in the waiting list until the end of the follow up. The same measures were used for post–test and follow–up (after 3 months). Results: The results of analysis of multivariate covariance showed that MCT had a significant effect in reducing the symptoms of SPD (p<0.001). Conclusion: This intervention is believed to reduce symptoms of social phobia (SP) patients by facilitating transmission from the object mode to the meta cognitive mode and enhancing the efficient and flexible coping skills.

Keywords

• anxiety disorder
• metacognitive therapy
• social phobia.