Online compassion focused therapy for social anxiety disorder in adolescence (CFT@TeenSAD): Preliminary data on efficacy throughout treatment

• Autor(a) principal: Vieira Figueiredo, Diana
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Ganho-Ávila, Ana, Ramos Miguel, Rita, Paulo, Marlene, Nobre-Lima, Luiza, Salvador, Maria do Céu, Rijo, Daniel, Vagos, Paula Emanuel Rocha
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por; eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.14195/1647-8606_64-2_4
• topic: Compassion Focused Therapy; Social anxiety disorder; Adolescence; Therapeutic change; Terapia focada na Compaixão; Perturbação de ansiedade social; Adolescência; Mudança terapêutica

This work investigated the efficacy of Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) on symptoms of social anxiety disorder (SAD) in adolescence, based on data collected throughout treatment. CFT has contributed to the psychological well-being of various populations, but limited evidence exists on its therapeutic gains for SAD in adolescence. Twenty-one adolescents (57.1% girls; 15-18 years old) presenting with SAD received online treatment. The CFT@TeenSAD intervention was organized into four modules: Our mind according to CFT, Developing the compassionate self and the skills of a compassionate mind, Practicing compassionate behavior, and Last remarks and continuing a compassionate journey. Before each session, adolescents reported on perceived change in symptom severity. At the end of each session, clinicians rated overtime change in that severity. Self-reports (F(1,540) = 32.271, p < .0005, ηp2 = .63) and clinician’s reports (F(1,528) = 24.783, p < .0005, ηp2 = .57) showed that improvement was significantly heightened during treatment, with significant changes across all four intervention modules. Trajectories of change were similar across gender. Though preliminary, findings point to online CFT being a promising approach to treat SAD in adolescent boys and girls, given that it contributes to continuous decrease in severity of social anxiety symptoms.