COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL VERSUS EXPOSURE ONLY TREATMENT FOR SOCIAL PHOBIA - A METAANALYSIS

A meta-analytic comparison of studies testing cognitive behavior therapy (CBT; n = 12) and exposure treatment(n = 9) for social phobia indicates that the treatment modalities are equally effective. Compared to exposure, CBT did not lead to greater pretest-posttest or pretest-follow-up improvement on self-report measures of social anxiety, cognitive symptoms, or depressed/anxious mood. Length of treatment was generally unrelated to outcome, although a larger number of exposure sessions produced better results on measures of social anxiety at posttest.