Treatment of Social Anxiety in Children with an Individually Tailored Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment Program

Treatment of Social Anxiety in Children with an Individually Tailored Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment Program (THAZ - Social Anxiety) - Concept and Results of a Pilot Study Tailoring interventions according to the individual problems is regarded as necessary for a successful treatment also in the therapy of social anxiety in childhood and adolescence. In a group format such an individually tailored treatment is harder to realize than in individual treatment sessions. There are a number of well-evaluated cognitive-behavioral group therapy programs for treatment of social anxiety in children and adolescents also in German. However, there is no disorder-specific manual for the treatment of social anxiety in childhood. In order to close this gap, the module social anxiety was developed within a comprehensive Treatment Program for Anxiety and Obsessive Compulsive Disorders (THAZ). The individualization was done on two levels: 1) by working with the specific individual problem-situations and 2) by treating the specific problem-maintaining processes. This concept of THAZ is presented in detail, and feasibility as well as practicability are discussed based on clinical experiences and the results of a pilot study with 12 children with social phobia in a within-subject design. The data were analyzed using linear mixed models (LMM), comparing changes of social anxiety levels during waiting period and during therapy. According to the children's ratings, anxiety reduced significantly during therapy and strong effects were revealed. Effects remained stable after 6 months, with anxiety reducing even further on some measures.