Scores on an emotional Stroop task after treatment of social anxiety disorder

Color-naming interference on an emotional Stroop task was measured to assess attentional bias in information processing by 60 individuals diagnosed with generalized social phobia. Differential effects of three group treatments (exposure, cognitive restructuring + exposure, and cognitive restructuring + exposure + hypnosis), as well as their combined effect, and a no-treatment/wait-list control condition on color-naming interference were investigated after pre- and post-treatment and a 3-mo. follow-up. Differences among four treatment conditions (the three active treatments and the wait-list control condition) at the three assessment stages were not statistically significant in two-way repeated measure analyses of variance. The combined effect of the three treatment conditions was, however, statistically significant. Effect size analyses indicated to cognitive restructuring + exposure being the most effective treatment, but low statistical power prevented definite conclusions. Clinical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.