Return to Baseline After an Interpretation Training as a Dynamic Predictor for Treatment Response in Social Anxiety Disorder

Background: Despite considerable research efforts, consistent predictors of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) outcome for social anxiety disorder (SAD) are scarce. A dynamic focus on individual symptom reactivity and resilience patterns may show promise in predicting treatment response. This pilot study is the first to investigate whether rate of return to baseline after a one-session positive interpretation training indicates resilience and predicts CBT-response among individuals with SAD. 

Method: Participants (N = 39) completed an interpretation bias assessment before and after training, and once a day for three days after the training, followed by a six-week CBT-program. Participants completed SAD-assessments pre-treatment, during treatment, and post-treatment. Return to baseline was operationalized as the individualized slope of negative and positive interpretations across interpretation bias assessments. 

Results: Intention-to-treat analyses showed no significant relation between both negative and positive interpretation bias and CBT-response. Similarly, for completers-only, most analyses also showed no such relationship. 

Conclusion: These findings suggest that slower return to baseline as a resilience index does not have predictive value for CBT-outcome in individuals with SAD. Future studies should incorporate experience-sampling to capture subtle changes in interpretation bias.