Treatment of fear of blushing, sweating, or trembling - Results at long-term follow-up

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.