SWT consists of the following three phases: self-confrontation, cognitive reappraisal and sharing/farewell.
The therapy consisted of three treatment phases: 1) self-confrontation, 2) cognitive reconstruction, and 3) social sharing.
If necessary, it was possible to use the flexible sessions in advance to prolong the self-confrontation or the cognitive reappraisal phase.
For cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), there are a number of treatment manuals/protocols, e.g. psycho education, relaxation techniques, cognitive restructuring of (meta-) cognitions, (imagery-) exposure, and in vivo confrontation, that primarily reference standard techniques to correct and compensate GAD symptoms [ 20- 24].
The mental confrontation presented by counterexamples often leads to cognitive dissonance, an uncomfortable stage in which conflicting views are held simultaneously.
Imaginal exposure, for example, is aimed at cognitive restructuring and can be used in preparation for a real life confrontation with anxiety-provoking situations.
This constant confrontation with social problems may have driven the evolution of complex cognitive capacities (Emery and Clayton 2004).
During the confrontation with the aversive life events, therapists ask for current and past emotional, physiological, cognitive, and behavioral reactions, and they probe for respective observations.
Treatments could be influenced by an overemphasis on cognitive [ 24] or explicit communication factors, whilst the issue could be related to the avoidance of an emotive confrontation on symptomatology and real-life experiences or, more simply, to the lack of an authentic relationship between patient and therapist [ 16].
This confrontation was implicit in the development of the Peircian "verifiability" theory toward its exclusion of metaphysical statements as cognitive statements capable of possessing any truth value whatsoever.
