Treating Social Anxiety Disorder Remotely with Cognitive Therapy
Abstract
Remote delivery of evidence-based psychological therapies via video conference has become particularly relevant following the COVID-19 pandemic, and is likely to be an on-going method of treatment delivery post-COVID.
Remotely delivered therapy could be of particular benefit for people with social anxiety disorder (SAD), who tend to avoid or delay seeking face-to-face therapy, often due to anxiety about travelling to appointments and meeting mental health professionals in person.
Individual cognitive therapy for SAD (CT-SAD), based on the Clark and Wells (1995) model, is a highly effective treatment that is recommended as a first line intervention in NICE Guidance (NICE, 2013).
All of the key features of face-to-face CT-SAD; including video feedback, attention training, behavioural experiments, and memory focused techniques can be adapted for remote delivery.
In this paper, we provide guidance for clinicians on how to deliver CT-SAD remotely, and suggest novel ways for therapists and patients to overcome the challenges of carrying out a range of behavioural experiments during remote treatment delivery
Citations
Emma Warnock-Parkes, Jennifer Wild, Graham R Thew, Alice Kerr, Nick Grey, Richard Stott, Anke Ehlers, David M Clark.Treating Social Anxiety Disorder Remotely with Cognitive Therapy. Cognitive Behaviour Therapist July 2020 , pp. 1-37
Sponsorship: Supported by the NIHR
Page last reviewed: 12 June, 2025
Metadata
Author(s): Clark, David M; Thew, Graham R; Warnock-Parkes, Emma; Wild, Jennifer
Collection: 123456789/30
Subject(s): Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Remote Consultations, Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)
Format(s): Article
Date issued: 2020-07
ISSN: 1754-470X.
ID: 566