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One-session treatment (OST) appears to be as effective as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in treating children with specific phobias, according to a new study.
Specific phobias appear early in young children. To treat them, different therapies exist, but one of them seems particularly promising: the treatment in a single session (OST).
Patients are exposed to their phobias
As part of this study – available in the ACAMH review – the researchers compared the effects of the TSO treatment (a variant of CBT which consists of exposing the patient to their phobia, but which does not require a long period of treatment) with those of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).
While TCC therapy is spread over several months, TSO therapy is based on a single 3-hour session. A much lower cost, but with what efficiency.
To do this, the scientists recruited 268 young patients aged 7 to 16, all with specific phobias.
“Phobia is characterized by an excessive fear of something, and the specific one is directed towards an animal, an object, a situation“, recalls Dr. Joly, psychiatrist.
The children were then randomly treated with either OST or CBT therapy. The clinical non-inferiority and the cost-effectiveness of the treatments were assessed 6 months after the start of the tests.
Results ? Children who received the one-session treatment (OST) achieved the same results as those treated with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).
A less expensive treatment but…
Imbued with an all-British pragmatism, the researchers therefore conclude that express therapy, which is as effective and less expensive, is to be preferred.
“One-session treatment has similar clinical efficacy to CBT for specific phobias and may be a cost-effective alternative“, reveal the researchers.
Conclusions that Dr. Lucie Joly, psychiatrist, wants to put into perspective.
For Dr Joly, “it is not a study of superiority but of non-inferiority, elements must still be adjusted and validated“. This may represent a “way of the future, even if the exposure of a child to his phobias during a 3 hour session remains debatable“…
Slide: The most unusual phobias