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Brief Cognitive Therapy Plus Treatment as Usual for Social Anxiety Disorder: a Randomized Trial of Adults in India

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Abstract

We examined the efficacy of a brief CBT (bCBT) in 53 patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD). Patients were randomized to either bCBT plus treatment as usual (N = 27) or TAU only (N = 26). Seven sessions of bCBT (Wells and Papageorgiou in Behavior Research and Therapy, 39, 713–720, 2001), were delivered. The primary self-report outcome was the Social Interaction and Anxiety Scale (SIAS) and the primary rater-based outcome was the Liebowitz Social anxiety scale (LSAS). “Response” to treatment was assessed using the Clinical Global Impressions–Improvement. Assessments were carried out at baseline, post-treatment, and 3 months for the bCBT group and at baseline and post-treatment for the TAU group. There were 23 treatment completers in the bCBT group. Linear-mixed model ANOVAs indicated superiority in change following bCBT, on the LSAS, SIAS, and the Clinical Global Impressions (CGI)-severity. The TAU group improved on CGI-severity and Social Phobia Rating Scale (SPRS) self-attention. At post-treatment, 65% of bCBT cases and 4% in TAU met criteria for “recovered”, supporting the effectiveness of bCBT in the treatment of SAD.

Clinical Trial Registry number: CTRI/2012/09/003015

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Acknowledgement

The authors thank Dr. D. K. Subbakrishna and Dr. Veena Satyanarayana for their inputs on the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Psychology, Amity Institute of Behavioural and Allied Sciences (AIBAS), Amity University, Panvel, Mumbai, India

    G. R. Pinjarkar

  2. Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560029, India

    Paulomi M. Sudhir

  3. Department of Biostatistics, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560029, India

    P. Mariamma

  4. Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560029, India

    S. Bada Math

  5. Clinical and Experimental Psychopathology, School of Psychological Sciences, Section of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Manchester, Rawnsley Building, MRI, Manchester, M13 9WL, UK

    A. Wells

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  1. G. R. Pinjarkar
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  3. P. Mariamma
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  4. S. Bada Math
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  5. A. Wells
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Correspondence to Paulomi M. Sudhir.

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The study was approved by the Institute Ethics Committee and all patients gave written informed consent to participate. Patients did not receive any monetary benefits for participating in the study.

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Pinjarkar, G.R., Sudhir, P.M., Mariamma, P. et al. Brief Cognitive Therapy Plus Treatment as Usual for Social Anxiety Disorder: a Randomized Trial of Adults in India. J Cogn Ther 11, 299–310 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41811-018-0025-x

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