Brief Cognitive Therapy Plus Treatment as Usual for Social Anxiety Disorder: a Randomized Trial of Adults in India

Research on psychotherapy in India: A systematic review

We systematically reviewed empirical studies of psychotherapy with Indian clients. We defined psychotherapy as an intervention aimed at treating mental disorders using "talk," which, in a professional medical setting, along with the therapeutic relationship, acquires medicinal value. Besides manual searches in three leading Indian psychiatry journals, we conducted digital searches in PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus databases. We found that the commonly practiced evidence-based psychotherapy in India follows the cognitive-behavioral model. Our findings suggest several replication studies which claimed to have used the well-established western models of cognitive behavioural paradigm but have mostly focused on basic behavioural techniques in their protocol. A few innovations were observed, and several essential errors were noted. Innovations include contextual modifications to address the difficulties and challenges faced in service delivery, while errors include deviations from protocol without adequate rationale.

Brief cognitive behavior group therapy for social anxiety among medical students: A randomized placebo-controlled trial

OBJECTIVE

To compare brief cognitive behavior group therapy (bCBGT) for social anxiety disorder (SAD) to a credible placebo, psychoeducational-supportive therapy (PST), in a sample of medical students.

METHOD

This was a single-center, rater-blind, randomized, attention placebo-controlled, parallel-group study. Participants were 50 consenting undergraduate medical students of a state government medical college in Cuttack, India having a primary diagnosis of SAD, who recieved 6 weekly 2-h group sessions. Assessments were carried out at baseline, post intervention and at two-month follow. Independent raters assessed the participants on the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale and Clinical Global Impression- Improvement scale (CGI-I). Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN), a self-rated measure, was administered in the same periods.

RESULTS

bCBGT group improved significantly across periods from pre-treatment to post-treatment and from pre-treatment to two-month follow-up. bCBGT was statistically superior to PST at the post-treatment and follow-up assessments and showed large effect sizes at both post-treatment and follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS

A 6-session bCBGT is an efficacious treatment for SAD among medical students. A longer follow-up and replication in other groups, and clinical settings are necessary for generalization to a broader SAD population.