Group schema therapy versus group cognitive behavioral therapy for patients with social anxiety disorder and comorbid avoidant personality disorder: A randomized controlled trial
Open accessAbstract
Background Patients with social anxiety (SAD) and comorbid avoidant personality disorder (AVPD) are severely impaired. Group cognitive behavioral therapy (GCBT) is considered an effective treatment for SAD. More knowledge on treatment of SAD with comorbid AVPD is needed. Schema therapy, developed for personality and chronic mental disorders, may be a promising treatment. Methods We conducted a randomized controlled trial in an outpatient population (n = 154) with both SAD and AVPD. Group Schema Therapy (GST) and GCBT were compared on SAD symptoms (Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale) and manifestations of AVPD (Avoidant Personality Disorder Severity Index). Results Intention-to-treat analysis showed no significant differences between treatments at 3 months post-treatment and one-year follow-up. Both modalities led to significant and substantial improvements. No significant between-differences were found in depressive symptoms (Inventory of Depressive Symptoms) and quality of life (World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF). Per-protocol analysis showed similar outcomes and no significant differences in recovery from SAD and AVPD. Significantly more patients completed GST. Conclusion GST and GCBT are valuable treatments for SAD with comorbid AVPD. The higher treatment retention in ST indicates ST is more acceptable than GCBT. Future studies should focus on enhancing treatment effects and improving retention to GCBT.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Both GCBT and GST led to significant and substantial improvements.
“Both interventions led to significant and substantial improvements.”
From Exploring Moderators and Mediators of the Outcome of Group Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Compared With Group Schema Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder and Comorbid Avoidant Personality Disorder. (2025) · cites this paper as Baljé et al. 2024
For GCBT, within-group effect sizes for social anxiety symptoms were Cohen's d = 1.16 at 3-month follow-up and 1.50 at 12-month follow-up.
“Cohen's d was 1.16 at T3 and 1.50 at T5 for GCBT”
From Exploring Moderators and Mediators of the Outcome of Group Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Compared With Group Schema Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder and Comorbid Avoidant Personality Disorder. (2025) · cites this paper as Baljé et al. 2024
Treatment retention in group schema therapy (GST) was significantly higher than in group cognitive behavioural therapy (GCBT).
“Treatment retention in GST was significantly higher.”
From Exploring Moderators and Mediators of the Outcome of Group Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Compared With Group Schema Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder and Comorbid Avoidant Personality Disorder. (2025) · cites this paper as Baljé et al. 2024
For GST, within-group effect sizes for social anxiety symptoms were Cohen's d = 1.07 at 3-month follow-up and 1.14 at 12-month follow-up.
“1.07 at T3 and 1.14 at T5 for GST”
From Exploring Moderators and Mediators of the Outcome of Group Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Compared With Group Schema Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder and Comorbid Avoidant Personality Disorder. (2025) · cites this paper as Baljé et al. 2024
For GST, within-group effect sizes for AVPD manifestations were Cohen's d = 0.48 at 3-month follow-up and 0.82 at 12-month follow-up.
“and 0.48 and 0.82, respectively, for GST”
From Exploring Moderators and Mediators of the Outcome of Group Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Compared With Group Schema Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder and Comorbid Avoidant Personality Disorder. (2025) · cites this paper as Baljé et al. 2024
For GCBT, within-group effect sizes for AVPD manifestations were Cohen's d = 0.88 at 3-month follow-up and 1.10 at 12-month follow-up.
“For AVPD manifestations, these values were 0.88 and 1.10, respectively, for GCBT”
From Exploring Moderators and Mediators of the Outcome of Group Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Compared With Group Schema Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder and Comorbid Avoidant Personality Disorder. (2025) · cites this paper as Baljé et al. 2024
In the RCT comparing group cognitive behavioural therapy (GCBT) and group schema therapy (GST) in patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and comorbid avoidant personality disorder (AVPD), no differences in the reduction of severity of social anxiety and AVPD were found.
“In a RCT comparing group cognitive behavioural therapy (GCBT) and group schema therapy (GST) in patients with SAD and comorbid AVPD, no differences in the reduction of severity of social anxiety (SA) and AVPD were found.”
From Exploring Moderators and Mediators of the Outcome of Group Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Compared With Group Schema Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder and Comorbid Avoidant Personality Disorder. (2025) · cites this paper as Baljé et al. 2024
No citation lists for this paper
No citation lists for this paper yet — checked again daily.
References 60 · Cited by 20
- Authors
- Baljé, A. E., Greeven, A., Deen, M., van Giezen, A. E., Arntz, A., & Spinhoven, P.
- Affiliations
- Leiden University (NL)
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Baljé, Astrid E.
- Venue
- Journal of Anxiety Disorders
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2024-06
- Volume
- 104
- Pages
- 102860
- ISSN
- 0887-6185 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4394695446
- Cited by
- 20
- References
- 60
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 3
- FWCI
- 8.14
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Anxiety Disorders (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- SSRN Electronic Journal (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Leiden Repository (Leiden University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Fonds Psychische Gezondheid (2013 6778)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Assessments
- Keywords
- group schema therapy, group cognitive behavioral therapy, social anxiety disorder, avoidant personality disorder, comorbidities, treatment retention, treatment acceptability, depressive symptoms, quality of life
- MeSH terms
- Phobia, Social, Adult, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Personality Disorders, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Psychotherapy, Group, Quality of Life, Comorbidity, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Treatment Outcome
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
