A study on the effectiveness of brief psychotherapy focused on metacognition in social phobia, a single-subject design

In this study, the effectiveness of a new treatment for social phobia was investigated. According to the metacognitive approach, negative beliefs/thoughts about the social self are produced from the style of processing driven by the persons metacognitions. Thus, the treatment focuses on modifying the style of processing before, during, and after social situations. A single case study with multiple baselines and a 3 months follow-up assessment was implemented. The sample of study was selected from clients of counseling center of Shiraz University, who had been registered from October to December 2008. She received 8 sessions of metacognitive therapy. Four questionnaires (social phobia metacognitions questionnaire, fear of negative evaluation, social avoidance and distress, and social phobia inventory) were used in this study. Visual analysis and percent of improvement were used for analysis of the data. Results showed that the patient acquired clinical and statistical significant change on a range of standardized outcome measures in specific social phobia measures. Gains were maintained at follow-up. Metacognitive therapy could be an effective brief psychotherapy for social phobia. Further evaluations are clearly warranted.