The outbreak of the 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is a major stressor leading to increased levels of anxiety, and specifically, an excessive fear of being infected and affected by the disease among major parts of the population. At the same time, the access to mental health services is limited due to the lockdown policy applied in many countries worldwide, warranting the development of home-delivered interventions aimed at reducing stress and anxiety symptoms. Attention Bias modification (ABM) has been found to be an efficacious computerized intervention to reduce anxiety symptoms. In this open pilot trial, participants reporting on elevated levels of health anxiety concerning the COVID-19 epidemic will receive one session of ABM over 5 consecutive days (5 sessions total). Symptoms of health anxiety, state anxiety, generalized anxiety, and depression will be measured at baseline and post-treatment.
Behavioral: Attention Bias Modification (ABM)
A home-delivered version of ABM will be administered in this open trial. ABM will be comprised of 5 sessions with a variation of the dot-probe task in which the target probe always replaces the neutral stimuli to induce diversion of attention away from threat. This condition was found effective in reducing anxiety symptoms.
Inclusion Criteria:
- 3 or more symptoms (out of 7) reported in the COVID-19 anxiety inventory with a score
of 4 or 5.
- Fluent Hebrew
- Having a PC computer at home with internet access
Exclusion Criteria:
- A diagnosis of dyslexia or other reading disability
Tel Aviv University
Tel-Aviv, Israel
Yair Bar-Haim, PhD, Principal Investigator
Tel Aviv University