Group exposure and response prevention for college students with social anxiety: A randomized clinical trial

OBJECTIVE: Social anxiety increases college student drop-out risk and stifles employment opportunities. Group cognitive-behavioral therapy with exposure (CBT ERP) has the potential to alleviate campus resource strain but remains under-researched with college students. The present study investigated the efficacy of group CBT ERP in a randomized clinical trial on a college campus. METHOD: Thirty-one postsecondary students were randomly assigned to an exposure-only group or an active control. RESULTS: Linear mixed-effects models indicated significant Group × Time interactions for general social anxiety (t = -2.02, g = 0.62) and depression (t = -2.77, g = 0.55); nonsignificant main effects were found for group and time variables. On a measure of fear of negative evaluation, only the main effect of time was significant (t = 2.15, p = 0.032). CONCLUSIONS: When compared to an active control group, CBT ERP is an efficacious and time-effective treatment for college students experiencing social anxiety.