A Review of Cognitive Therapy for Mental Disorders Based on Bias Modification

Cognitive bias modification procedures are considered therapist-independent, computer-based, and relatively new interventions, which are mainly used as outpatient therapies for anxiety, emotional disorders, and different types of addiction. This paper aimed to present the latest findings of the studies on cognitive bias modification to enhance the knowledge of experts and researchers of the effects of such procedures in both practice and theory. At first, cognitive bias modification was briefly defined. Then, its different procedures (attention bias modification, interpretation bias modification, and memory bias modification) and the therapies based on these modification procedures were introduced. Then, the studies conducted on the effectiveness of such therapies were reviewed and their results were discussed.

All the studies suggested, in a relatively consistent and significant way, that it is possible to modify cognitive bias processes in various disorders, such as anxiety and emotional disorders, mood disorders, chronic pain, obsessive disorders, addiction, and intellectual rumination. Furthermore, computer programs for cognitive bias modification and dot-probe tasks are suitable alternatives or complementary options for reducing or treating clinical symptoms and cognitive biases. In addition to the need for inventing therapy applications and adapting cultural characteristics of English versions for the Iranian population, new investigations are required to evaluate both the clinical crowd and the effectiveness of these modification procedures for various disorders.