A Comparison Between Internet Therapy and Group Therapy for Social Phobia - A Trial Using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Phase 3

Completed

• Conditions: Social Phobia
• Interventions: Behavioral: CBT via the Internet; Behavioral: CBT group therapy

• Registration Number: NCT00564967
• Lead Sponsor: Karolinska Institutet

Brief Summary

Social phobia is one of the most prevalent anxiety disorders in the western world. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is the psychological treatment that has the largest empirical support. However, the availability to CBT is very limited in Sweden due to lack of therapists with proper training. Therefore it is important to evaluate alternative forms of treatment that are more time efficient. One of these methods is Internet based self-help therapy, which has proven to be an effective treatment for social phobia.

To the investigator´s knowledge, no study has yet directly compared live-CBT to Internet therapy. The aim of the present study is to compare the effect of live CBT vs CBT delivered via the Internet. The study is considered to be an equivalence trial. 128 patients will be randomly assigned to one of the two treatment conditions. The primary outcome measure is Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS).

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2007-11
• Study First Submitted: 2007-11-28
• Study First Submitted QC: 2007-11-28
• Study First Posted: 2007-11-29
• Status Verified: 2009-08
• Primary Completion: 2010-08
• Study Completion: 2010-08
• Last Update Submitted: 2010-10-25
• Last Update Posted: 2010-10-26

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 128

Inclusion Criteria

• Must have a primary diagnosis of social phobia

Exclusion Criteria

• Substance abuse during the last 6 months
• Other dominating diagnosis (not phobic personality disorder)
• A history of bipolar disorder or psychosis
• Major depression according to DSM-IV and >20 on madrs-s
• Risk of suicide
• Start of medication or change of dosis during the last 2 months
• Other parallel psychological treatment
• Previous CBT (last 3 years) for social phobia

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
1	CBT via the Internet	CBT via the Internet
2	CBT group therapy	15 weeks, CBT group therapy, 1 session/week (2.5 hours).

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
SIAS, SPS,QOLI,MADRS-S, BAI,ASI,CGI, WQ, GAF, TIC-P, SSP

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Psykiatri Sydväst, Stockholm County Council; 🇸🇪 Stockholm, Sweden