Brief cognitive behavior group therapy for social anxiety among medical students: A randomized placebo-controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE

To compare brief cognitive behavior group therapy (bCBGT) for social anxiety disorder (SAD) to a credible placebo, psychoeducational-supportive therapy (PST), in a sample of medical students.

METHOD

This was a single-center, rater-blind, randomized, attention placebo-controlled, parallel-group study. Participants were 50 consenting undergraduate medical students of a state government medical college in Cuttack, India having a primary diagnosis of SAD, who recieved 6 weekly 2-h group sessions. Assessments were carried out at baseline, post intervention and at two-month follow. Independent raters assessed the participants on the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale and Clinical Global Impression- Improvement scale (CGI-I). Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN), a self-rated measure, was administered in the same periods.

RESULTS

bCBGT group improved significantly across periods from pre-treatment to post-treatment and from pre-treatment to two-month follow-up. bCBGT was statistically superior to PST at the post-treatment and follow-up assessments and showed large effect sizes at both post-treatment and follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS

A 6-session bCBGT is an efficacious treatment for SAD among medical students. A longer follow-up and replication in other groups, and clinical settings are necessary for generalization to a broader SAD population.