Christoph-Dornier-Foundation of Clinical Psychology, Münster, Germany.
Behav Res Ther. 2013 Feb;51(2):87-97. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2012.10.006. Epub 2012 Nov 13.
Attentional biases toward social threat are a well-known phenomenon in social phobia. Recently, computer-delivered trainings have been developed to modify these patterns of attention and thereby reduce anxiety symptoms. Distribution of such attention trainings (ATs) via internet might be a promising approach in overcoming obstacles in health care utilization. However, there is no evidence supporting the effectiveness of internet-based ATs in clinical populations. The current trial examined effects of an internet-based AT on self-report measures, behavioral data and diagnostic status in individuals with social phobia (N = 56). Participants were randomly assigned to either AT using a modified dot probe paradigm or a control condition without attention modification. After training and at a 4-month follow-up, both groups showed small, albeit significant reductions in social anxiety and depression, but there was no evidence for superiority of the AT condition. The present findings question the effectiveness of internet-based ATs in social phobia. Future studies need to investigate effective variants of internet-based ATs before they can be widely applied.
对社交威胁的注意力偏差是社交恐惧症中的一个众所周知的现象。最近，已经开发出了计算机传递的训练来改变这些注意力模式，从而减轻焦虑症状。通过互联网分发这种注意力训练（AT）可能是克服医疗保健利用障碍的一种很有前途的方法。然而，目前还没有证据支持基于互联网的 AT 在临床人群中的有效性。目前的试验研究了基于互联网的 AT 对社交恐惧症患者（N=56）的自我报告测量、行为数据和诊断状况的影响。参与者被随机分配到使用改良点探测范式的 AT 组或不进行注意力修正的对照组。在训练后和 4 个月的随访中，两组的社交焦虑和抑郁都有较小但显著的减轻，但没有证据表明 AT 组具有优势。目前的研究结果对基于互联网的 AT 在社交恐惧症中的有效性提出了质疑。在广泛应用之前，未来的研究需要调查基于互联网的 AT 的有效变体。
