Psychotherapy Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Psychotherapy, including details on psychiatry, psychoanalysis, methods, outcomes.

School-based intervention for adolescents with social anxiety disorder: results of a controlled study.

Masia-Warner C, Klein RG, Dent HC, Fisher PH, Alvir J, Albano AM, Guardino M

New York University Child Study Center, NYU School of Medicine, 215 Lexington Avenue 13th Floor, New York, NY 10016, USA. carrie.masia@med.nyu.edu

Social anxiety disorder, whose onset peaks in adolescence, is associated with significant impairment. Despite the availability of effective treatments, few affected youth receive services. Transporting interventions into schools may circumvent barriers to treatment. The efficacy of a school-based intervention for social anxiety disorder was examined in a randomized wait-list control trial of 35 adolescents (26 females). Independent evaluators, blind to treatment condition, evaluated participants at preintervention, postintervention, and 9 months later. Adolescents in the intervention group demonstrated significantly greater reductions than controls in social anxiety and avoidance, as well as significantly improved overall functioning. In addition, 67% of treated subjects, compared to 6% of wait-list participants, no longer met criteria for social phobia following treatment. Findings support the possible efficacy of school-based intervention for facilitating access to treatment for socially anxious adolescents.

Published 5 December 2005 in J Abnorm Child Psychol, 33(6): 707-22.
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