Objectives
anxiety disorder, psychological impairment, phobic, psychological distress, deterioration of SAD-related symptoms, depression
SECONDARY, WELLS
The main goal of the present study is to evaluate whether the use of the app-based intervention helps to decrease symptoms of social anxiety disorder and has positive effects on mental health. There will be two experimental treatment conditions: App-based CT (APP) and app-based CT plus 8 therapist-guided video-delivered therapy sessions (TG-APP). Both will be compared to a wait-list control group (WLC). The therapists will be trained in Cognitive Therapy based on the model of Clark and Wells [Hypothesis 1a: In the APP and TG-APP condition, SAD-related symptoms, as measured by the LSAS, will decrease significantly more from baseline to post-treatment than in the WLC condition.Hypothesis 1b: The TG-APP condition results in a significantly greater reduction in SAD-related symptoms, as measured by the LSAS, than the APP and the WLC conditions, from baseline to post-treatment.Hypothesis 1c: In the APP and the TG-APP condition, there will be no significant deterioration of SAD-related symptoms, as measured by the LSAS, from post-treatment to follow-up.Hypothesis 2a: In the APP and TG-APP conditions, significant improvements in secondary outcome variables, including social phobic cognitions, depression symptoms, general psychological distress, psychological impairment, quality of life, and interpersonal pleasure, are achieved from baseline to post-treatment compared to the WLC condition.Hypothesis 2b: In the TG-APP condition, improvements in secondary outcome variables from baseline to post-treatment will be significantly larger than in the APP condition.Hypothesis 2c: In the APP and TG-APP condition, there will be no significant deterioration in secondary outcome variables from post-treatment to follow-up.Hypothesis 3: Individual learning styles contribute significantly to predicting success in both treatment conditions.Hypothesis 4: The increase in social approach behavior will mediate the effect of the TG-APP versus APP condition.