Social Phobia Treatment - Which is Better?
Most of the time, medication is the first recommendation you will get from your doctor as a social phobia treatment. But, if you are familiar with this blog, you know that medication and drugs are a last resort for almost anything. They often have awful side effects (so your social phobia is not so bad but you can’t keep your eyes open or you gain 3 pounds a week), they are addictive, and the minute you stop taking them – Here comes social anxiety again.
The next option is of course therapy. But how can you know what to choose? Psychotherapy (interpersonal therapy) or cognitive therapy?
A new research has the answer you were looking for, so here it is:
Social Phobia Treatment – Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or Interpersonal Therapy?
In a randomized controlled research study published recently, two psychological interventions were put head to head to see which one would come out on top.
Cognitive therapy (CT) focuses on the modification of biased information processing and dysfunctional beliefs of social anxiety disorder. Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) aims to change problematic interpersonal behavior patterns that may have an important role in the maintenance of the problem.
And The Results Are…
At the end of the study, the cognitive therapy group has a nearly 66 percent response rate while the interpersonal therapy group had a 42 percent response rate. The control group, in comparison, had only a 7 percent response rate — meaning that just waiting for the problem to resolve on its own is significantly less effective than getting treatment for it.
In the specific measurement of social anxiety disorder, cognitive therapy significantly outperformed interpersonal therapy. Both treatment conditions significantly improved social anxiety symptoms in comparison to the control group.
This study also did something special a lot of studies don’t do — a one year follow-up. It’s all well and good to measure the effects of a treatment immediately when the study ends. But a one-year follow-up tells us whether the treatment “sticks” or not.
At the follow-up, the differences between CT and IPT were largely maintained, according to the researchers. The cognitive therapy group again came out on top with significantly higher response rates (68 percent) versus the interpersonal therapy group (32 percent)
The cognitive therapy group also had better outcomes on the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale at the one year follow-up. The original story is here.
So there you have it. For social anxiety disorder, cognitive therapy is the therapy of choice. Natural alternative therapies are always my choice so this is some good news about social phobia treatment!
What if You Don’t Want to Go to Therapy?
After talking to many social phobia sufferers, I have learned that many of them are afraid to leave their house, even if it’s for therapy. Some of them are afraid of talking to the therapist. Did you know that you can use CBT techniques from the comfort of your home? If you want to find out how to do it yourself – Read my article about it here: CBT anxiety
And most importantly, please share how you feel about this article, to help spread the word that CBT is good for social anxiety disorder. Just Facebook it below:
