Clinical Trial on Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)

A psychologist conducted an investigation into the comparative efficacy of interventions designed to treat Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD).

Forty-five adult participants, all meeting the clinical criteria for Social Anxiety Disorder, took part in the research. Before the interventions commenced, each participant recorded the number of social avoidance behaviors they exhibited over a seven-day period.

The participants were randomly assigned to three equal groups of 15:

• Group 1 completed an 8-week course of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).
• Group 2 completed 8 weeks of individual Exposure Therapy.
• Group 3 was placed on a waitlist and received no active treatment.

After the 8-week period, the psychologist once again recorded the number of social avoidance behaviors exhibited over a seven-day period by each participant.