Intensive group-based CBT for child social phobia: a pilot study.

Area of Science:

• Child and adolescent psychology
• Clinical psychology
• Anxiety disorders

Background:

• Childhood social phobia (SP) is prevalent but often undertreated.
• Standard cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for SP has limitations in efficacy and accessibility.
• Intensive, group-based, SP-specific CBT may offer a more effective treatment approach.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the preliminary efficacy of a brief, intensive, group-based CBT program for child social phobia.
• To assess improvements in diagnostic status, symptom severity, and overall functioning.

Main Methods:

• Forty Australian children (aged 7-12) with SP were randomized into a treatment group or a waitlist control group.
• Treatment involved 4 intensive 3-hour sessions over 3 weekends.
• Clinical interviews and parent/child questionnaires assessed SP diagnosis, anxiety, social skills, and functioning pre-treatment, post-treatment, and at 6-month follow-up.

Main Results:

• Post-treatment, 52.4% of the treatment group achieved remission from SP, compared to 15.8% in the waitlist group.
• The treatment group showed greater reductions in clinical severity, improved functioning, and fewer diagnoses.
• Significant improvements were observed in child SP symptoms, internalizing symptoms, social competence, and parental SP symptoms, maintained at 6-month follow-up.

Conclusions:

• Brief, intensive, group CBT is a beneficial treatment for many children with social phobia.
• This program demonstrated promising results in reducing SP symptoms and enhancing functioning.
• Further research is warranted to confirm these findings in larger samples.