Treatment of Social Phobia

January 16, 2018 updated by: Stefan G. Hofmann, Boston University Charles River Campus

Treatment of Social Phobia: Mediators And Moderators

Social phobia is a very common and debilitating disorder, with public speaking anxiety being the most common fear. Psychologists have found that treating patients for their fear of public speaking, through cognitive-behavioral treatment (talk-based therapy) or exposure treatment (where participants participate in actual public speaking sessions), not only helps patients overcome this fear but also helps them overcome their more general social fears. However, little is known about how this change occurs during therapy. This study tries to identify the factors that contribute most to successful therapy.

Patients are assigned randomly (like tossing a coin) to 1 of 3 groups. Group 1 will receive cognitive-behavioral treatment and Group 2 will receive exposure treatment. Group 3 will not receive treatment. Study leaders will monitor patient response to treatment through behavioral tests and assessments.

An individual may be eligible for this study if he/she:

Has social phobia with public speaking anxiety.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The primary goal of the present study is to identify the mediators and moderators of change in the treatment of social phobia and, in so doing suggest a common mechanism of action for all brief psychosocial interventions. Perceived self-efficacy of social behavior, negative cognitive appraisal (estimated social costs), and perceived emotional control will be considered as potential mediators; avoidant personality disorder and the generalized subtype of social phobia will be considered as potential predictors for poor treatment outcome.

Social phobia is a very prevalent and debilitating disorder, with public speaking anxiety being the most common fear among socially phobic individuals. Although there are a number of effective psychosocial treatments for social phobia (e.g., cognitive-behavioral treatments and exposure therapy) very little is known about the underlying mechanism of therapeutic change (i.e., the mediators of change), and the variables that are predictive of treatment outcome (i.e., the moderators of change). Furthermore, it is unclear why treating individuals for their public speaking anxiety can generalize to other untreated social fears.

Patients are randomly assigned to either a comprehensive cognitive-behavioral treatment for social phobia (n=43), a performance-based exposure treatment for public speaking anxiety without cognitive intervention (n=43), or a waitlist control group (n=43). Clinician ratings, behavioral tests, cognitive assessments, subjective ratings, and physiological measures are employed to determine the degree of therapeutic gains in various social phobia domains. The main hypothesis is that perceived emotional control will mediate treatment outcome and generality of effectiveness independent of the specific treatment condition.

Study Type

Interventional

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02215
        • Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

-

Patients must have:

Social phobia with public speaking anxiety.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Boston University Charles River Campus

Collaborators

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Stefan Hofmann, PhD

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

May 1, 1998

Study Completion

February 1, 2003

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 2, 1999

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 2, 1999

First Posted (Estimate)

November 3, 1999

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 18, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 16, 2018

Last Verified

January 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • R29MH057326 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
  • DSIR AT-AS

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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