Attentional bias modification in posttraumatic stress disorder: a randomized controlled trial
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Attentional bias modification (ABM) is a new treatment for anxiety disorders. Three randomized controlled clinical trials have shown positive effects of ABM in social anxiety disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. This study investigated the efficacy of ABM in outpatients with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). METHODS: Randomized controlled double-blind trial (n = 102). ABM and control treatment consisted of eight 20-min sessions over the course of 3 weeks. Symptoms and attentional bias were assessed before and after treatment and at 3-week follow-up. RESULTS: ABM and the control treatment were equally effective in reducing the symptoms of PTSD. The effect sizes of the improvement (from before to after treatment) were 0.66 for ABM and 0.46 for the control treatment, which is comparable to the effect sizes of pill-placebos in pharmacotherapy trials of chronic PTSD. Both treatments did not affect attentional bias. The acceptability and tolerability of ABM was moderate. CONCLUSIONS: This version of ABM is not an effective treatment of PTSD.
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Twelve RCTs of ABMT in clinically diagnosed anxiety patients had been published, and eleven of these used variants of the dot-probe task.
“Twelve RCTs of ABMT in clinically diagnosed anxiety patients were published to date.Eleven of these RCTs used variants of the dot-probe task as means of attention bias modification (cf.Waters et al. [7] ).[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]”
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- Authors
- Schoorl, M., Putman, P., & Van Der Does, W.
- Affiliations
- Leiden University (NL)
- Venue
- Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics
- Publisher
- S. Karger AG
- Published
- 2012-12-22
- Volume
- 82
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 99-105
- ISSN
- 0033-3190 (ISSN-L)
- 1423-0348
- OpenAlex
- W1982818036
- Cited by
- 86
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 7.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Leiden Repository (Leiden University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Keywords
- attentional bias modification, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic PTSD, treatment efficacy, attentional bias, anxiety disorders, placebo effect
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Attention, Chronic Disease, Double-Blind Method, Female, Humans, Male, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Therapy, Computer-Assisted, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Linear Models, Treatment Outcome, Self Report
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