Symptom and Cognitive Predictors of Treatment Response in CBT for Social Anxiety Disorder

Abstract

The present study examined the impact of baseline depression symptom severity and the anxiety sensitivity dimensions (i.e., fears of physical sensations, cognitive dyscontrol, and publicly observable anxiety reactions) on cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) response in individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD). Participants consisted of a treatment-seeking sample (n = 110; 52% women) of individuals with a primary DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) diagnosis of SAD who received 12 sessions of weekly CBT for SAD. Participants completed measures of depression, anxiety sensitivity, and SAD symptom severity. Regression analyses demonstrated differential relationships between baseline depression symptom severity and anxiety sensitivity and CBT treatment outcome for SAD. Specifically, baseline depression severity, but not anxiety sensitivity, negatively impacted posttreatment SAD symptoms and clinically significant change of SAD symptoms. Additionally, the anxiety sensitivity (AS) fear of cognit...