Cognitive bias modification for anxiety: current evidence and future directions

Abstract

Cognitive bias modification (CBM) is an innovative approach to modifying cognitive biases that confer vulnerability to anxiety. CBM interventions are designed to directly modify attention and interpretation biases via repeated practice on cognitive tasks. Analogue studies have demonstrated that CBM affects cognitive biases and anxiety in a number of anxiety conditions. Multisession CBM treatments have shown preliminary efficacy for generalized social phobia and generalized anxiety disorder, with effect sizes comparable to existing treatments. However, with any newly developing field, there are a number of important limitations of the existing data that need to be addressed before making firm conclusions regarding CBM’s efficacy for anxiety disorders. This article focuses on the theoretical rationale for CBM and the current evidence from analogue and clinical samples.

Keywords::

• anxiety disorders
• attention bias
• attention training
• cognitive bias modification
• interpretation bias
• review
• treatment

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to Dr Nader Amir for his comments on a draft of this manuscript and to Hannah Boettcher for her assistance with the manuscript.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

Courtney Beard’s time and effort was supported in full by an NIMH NRSA postdoctoral fellowship (F32 MH083330). The author has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.