An Internet-Based Self-Help Program for the Treatment of Fear of Public Speaking: A Case Study

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the development of the first totally self-administered online CBT program for the treatment of a specific social phobia (fear of public speaking) called talk to me. The online program includes three parts. The assessment protocol gives the patient information about the problem, including impairment, severity, and the degree of fear and avoidance regarding the main feared situations. The structured treatment protocol ensures that the patient does not skip any steps in the treatment. The treatment protocol is a CBT program that provides exposure to the feared situation using videos of real audiences. Finally, the control protocol assesses treatment efficacy, not only at posttreatment, but also at every intermediate step. In this work we describe talk to Me and its practical application through a case study.

KEYWORDS:

• Cognitive-behavioral therapy
• exposure
• fear of public speaking
• online therapy
• social phobia
• telepsychology

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The research presented in this paper was funded in part by Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, Spain. PROYECTOS CONSOLIDER-C (SEJ2006-14301/PSIC). CIBER Fisiopatologia de la Obesidad y Nutricion is an initiative of ISCIII.

Notes

Note: FU: one year follow-up; BFNE: brief version of the fear of negative evaluation scale; SSPS-P: self-statements during public speaking–positive subscale; SSPS-N: self-statements during public speaking–negative subscale; PRCS: personal report of confidence as a speaker; PSSEQ: public speaking self-efficacy questionnaire.