Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is subject to constant updating and renewal.
The research relating to the treatment of different clinical disorders, which has always been a characterizing element of the CBT, has led and leads to the definition of ever better treatment protocols and the evaluation of which techniques are most effective.
In particular, for the social anxiety disorderfor some time now they have been flourishing research to evaluate how effective the use of new protocols and new interventions is, including the so -called imaginative techniques.
Despite the use of imagination and mental images in Cognitive behavioral therapy It is certainly not new, for example, think of Coping Imagery interventions or the techniques of exposure in imagination, over the years this interest has seemed to diminish by favoring the path of thought and dialectical reasoning, although from the beginning the same at Beck suggested the importance of working on the mental images of patients.
Recently we are witnessing a renewed interest in this type of mental activity, so much so that several approaches, of so -called third generation, have implemented a series of techniques aimed at work on mental images associated with the problematic areas of patients.
In this regard, a recent publication of the Eclipsi publishing house, illustrates the use of the IMEGERY in the assessment and in the treatment of psychopathological disorders (“imaginative techniques in cognitive therapy. Assessment and intervention strategies based on the IMEGERY”, A. Hackman, J. Bennet-Levy, EA Holmes-Eclipsi, 2014).
For the social phobiaas well as for other disorders, are blooming several research aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of Imagory techniques.
Since patients with social phobiawhen they think of themselves tend to do it through a prospect of field, that is, imagining themselves as observers of themselves, present a rich imagination about their fears. This probably makes the social phobia a disorder particularly suitable for the use of Imagory techniques.
In a recent article, FRETS, Kevenaar and Van der Heiden (2014) measured the effectiveness of theImagery Rescripting (IR) as a protocol of treatment in its own right.
The sample is certainly not large, only 6 adult subjects with diagnosis of social phobiabut the data seem promising.
Specifically, the protocol essentially consists of interventions on mental images and 6-month follow-up seems to have shown a certain stability of improvement.
In this study, during the first three weeks the patients have not received any treatment, but only the administration of tests at the beginning and end of this period to trace a baseline.
Subsequently, patients were admitted to treatment, which consisted of IR -based sessions; In this case, a defined protocol has not been foreseen, but therapist and patient decided the length of the treatment: the range of sessions carried out oscillated between 5 and 17, with an average of 11.2 sessions.
The admitted patients were between 21 and 47 years old and the inclusion criteria were Primary diagnosis of social phobiaage between 21 and 65 years of age, not being in psychotherapy (but ongoing pharmacotherapy was allowed), absence of depressive, psychotic or post-traumatic disorder.
Overall, both in the post -intervention evaluation and at the follow -up at six months the patients showed a significant improvement.
FRETS, GP, Kevenaar, C., Van der Heiden C. (2014). Imagery Rescripting AS A Stand-Alone Treatment for Patients with Social Phobia: A Case Series. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 45160-169.
