Cognitive-behavioral therapy modifies the naturalistic course of social anxiety disorder: findings from an ABA design study in routine clinical practices.

Aims: While randomized evidence appears to have established efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and some pharmacotherapy for social anxiety disorder (SAD), their real-world effectiveness has been called into question by long-term naturalistic cohort studies of patients with SAD as they show very low probability of recovery and sustained social dysfunctions despite some drug and psychological therapies.

Method: The present study examines the effectiveness of group CBT for SAD in real-world settings (n=62) by examining the course of patients' symptomatology and social functions through approximately 6 months on the waiting list, through 6 months receiving the manualized group CBT intervention consisting of 16 2-h sessions, and for 12 months after the treatment.

Results: We found: (i) that the patients with SAD changed little or possibly worsened through the 6 months on the waiting list, although two in three of them were on antidepressants, benzodiazepines or both; (ii) that both their symptomatology and social function improved significantly and substantively through the group CBT; and (iii) that this improvement was maintained through the 3- and 12-month follow ups.

Change in quality of life and their predictors in the long-term follow-up after group cognitive behavioral therapy for social anxiety disorder: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is one of the most common anxiety disorders. The efficacy of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) has been examined but to date its effects on Quality of Life (QoL) have not been appropriately evaluated especially in the long term.The study aimed to examine, in the long term, what aspects of Quality of Life (QoL) changed among social anxiety disorder (SAD) patients treated with group cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and what predictors at baseline were associated with QoL.

Video feedback with peer ratings in naturalistic anxiety-provoking situations for social anxiety disorder: Preliminary report.

The present study aimed to examine how video feedback can affect perceived performance and anticipatory anxiety in various naturalistic social anxiety-provoking situations among clinical patients diagnosed with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and to examine predictors that might influence response to video feedback. Participants were 52 consecutive patients with DSM-IV SAD who participated in a group-based CBT program. Our results demonstrated that video feedback was associated with a decrease in the underestimation of own performance as well as the perception of feared outcomes.

Videotaped experiments to drop safety behaviors and self-focused attention for patients with social anxiety disorder: do they change subjective and objective evaluations of anxiety and performance?

Safety behavior (SB) and self-focused attention (SFA) have been posited as important maintenance factors in the cognitive model of social anxiety disorder (SAD). The present study reports the results of experiments to drop SB and SFA among clinically diagnosed patients with SAD employing their own idiosyncratic anxiety-provoking situations. The ratings for observable anxiety, belief in feared outcome and overall performance were better for role plays without SB and SFA than for role plays with them.

Evaluation of diagnostic criteria for panic attack using item response theory: findings from the National Comorbidity Survey in USA.

Background: The dichotomous diagnostic systems such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and International Classification of Diseases (ICD) lose much important information concerning what each symptom can offer. This study explored the characteristics and performances of DSM-IV and ICD-10 diagnostic criteria items for panic attack using modern item response theory (IRT).

Methods: The National Comorbidity Survey used the Composite International Diagnostic Interview to assess 14 DSM-IV and ICD-10 panic attack diagnostic criteria items in the general population in the USA.

Prevalence of typus melancholicus in healthy germans.

Background: There have been few studies concerning the prevalence of Typus melancholicus (TM) in healthy volunteers based on age or sex. To our knowledge, no such studies have been performed in healthy Germans, but several in healthy Japanese people. Therefore, it is necessary to also determine the prevalence of TM in healthy Germans, in order to know whether the prevalence of TM is cross-culturally constant.

Quality of life and social role functioning in Japanese patients with panic disorder.

Although a number of recent studies have shown that panic disorder is associated with deterioration in quality of life and social dysfunctions, details of these impairments and their correlates have not been well studied. The present study aims to examine which aspects of quality of life and social functioning were particularly impaired in patients with panic disorder and to search for their clinical correlates. Fifty patients with panic disorder with or without agoraphobia who participated in our group cognitive-behavioral treatment program were administered the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form Health Survey and the Work, Home and Leisure Activities Scale.

[Examining the causal model of depression: the relation between depressogenic schemata and depression].

This study examines the causal relation between depressogenic schemata and depression. Three structural equation models were tested two times among 149 students during five months: (1) one-way causal relation from depressogenic schemata to depression, (2) one-way causal relation from depression to depressogenic schemata, (3) reciprocal relation between depressogenic schemata and depression. Results showed the third model is the most adequate among three models.