Cognitive-Behavioral and Pharmacological Treatments of Social Phobia: A Controlled Study
Abstract
Sixty-five patients with social phobia were treated in a study that compared a cognitive-behavioral group treatment program with pharmacotherapy with alprazolam, phenelzine sulfate, or pill-placebo plus instructions for self-directed exposure to phobic stimuli. Statistically significant repeated-measures effects were shown on all measures, indicating that the treatments studied were associated with substantial improvements in patients with severe and chronic social phobia. Patients who were treated with phenelzine were rated by clinicians as more improved on a measure of work and social disability than patients who were treated with alprazolam or placebo (patients in the cognitive-behavior therapy group were not rated on this measure). Subjects showed positive cognitive changes from before to after treatment, and there were no differences between treatment groups on the cognitive measure. We discuss the implications of these findings within the context of demographic and clinical predictors of response.
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Both treatments are well documented and have been implemented in scientific research before in treatment studies for GCBT and individual and group ST.
“Both treatments are well documented [17, 24, 75] and have been implemented in scientific research before in treatment studies for GCBT (e.g. [76–79]) and individual and group ST (e.g. [19, 43, 80, 81]).”
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- Authors
- Gelernter, C. S.
- Affiliations
- National Institute of Mental Health (US)
- Corresponding author
- Gelernter, Cheryl Shea
- Venue
- Archives of General Psychiatry
- Publisher
- American Medical Association (AMA)
- Published
- 1991-10-01
- Volume
- 48
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 938
- ISSN
- 0003-990X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1968872519
- Cited by
- 404
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 20.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Archives of General Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (T32 MH 14235, T32MH014235)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Assessments
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Keywords
- social anxiety disorder, group cognitive behavioral therapy, pharmacotherapy, alprazolam, phenelzine, placebo, predictors of treatment response
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Alprazolam, Ambulatory Care, Behavior Therapy, Double-Blind Method, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Implosive Therapy, Male, Middle Aged, Personality Inventory, Phenelzine, Phobic Disorders, Placebos, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Research Design, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
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