Can cognitive restructuring serve as a brief stand-alone treatment for social anxiety disorder in adolescence? An exploratory clinical trial

Abstract

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a debilitating and chronic condition that usually arises in adolescence. Cost-effective interventions provided early on may alter its usually chronic trajectory. This study evaluated changes following a brief cognitive restructuring intervention with 14 adolescent girls, against a waitlist control group, on social anxiety, fear of negative and positive evaluation and negative automatic thoughts. Predictors of post-intervention social anxiety scores were also investigated. Results show that social anxiety fluctuated similarly for both groups. Distinctive significant change was found only for performing in formal social situations following the intervention. Change in frequency of automatic negative thoughts significantly predicted post-intervention social anxiety for measures relating to anxiety when interacting and being observed by others. Cognitive restructuring may provide significant change by altering the content (and not the frequency) of thoughts and, in its current short form, may be relevant to the specific performance type of SAD.