Changes to core beliefs, shame and self‐compassion in cognitive behavioural therapy and imagery rescripting for social anxiety disorder

OBJECTIVES: Maladaptive core beliefs, shame and low self-compassion are found to be highly correlated with social anxiety disorder (SAD). DESIGN: The present study is a post-hoc exploratory study examining the efficacy of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and imagery rescripting (ImR) on reducing these constructs following treatment. METHODS: Seventy-two participants participated in the study (Mage = 39.26; 62.5% female); 37 participants completed CBT and 35 participants completed ImR. RESULTS: Strength of maladaptive core beliefs reduced from pre-treatment to post-treatment (CBT: d = .65; 95% CI: .17-1.11; ImR: d = .52; 95% CI: .04-.99) and pre-treatment to 3-month follow-up (CBT: d = .63; 95% CI: .16-1.09; ImR: d = .51; 95% CI: .03-.98) in both treatments groups. Levels of shame reduced significantly from pre-treatment to post-treatment (CBT: d = .86; 95% CI: .38-1.33; ImR: d = .93; 95% CI: .43-1.41), and pre-treatment to 3-month follow up in both groups (CBT: d = .80; 95% CI: .32-1.26; ImR: d = .58; 95% CI: .09-1.05). Self-compassion increased from pre-treatment to post-treatment (CBT: d = .78; 95% CI: .30-1.25; ImR: d = .67; 95% CI: .18-1.14) and pre-treatment to 3-month follow-up in the CBT condition (d = .71; 95% CI: .24-1.18), but not the ImR condition. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that both CBT and ImR improve outcomes on a number of non-fear-related constructs. This has important implications for the treatment of SAD.