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Concurrent Alcoholism and Social Anxiety Disorder: A First Step Toward Developing Effective Treatments
Author(s) -
Randall Carrie L.,
Thomas Suzanne,
Thevos Angelica K.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2001.tb02201.x
Subject(s) - social anxiety , alcohol use disorder , psychology , alcohol , psychiatry , alcohol abuse , alcohol dependence , anxiety disorder , anxiety , clinical psychology , randomized controlled trial , medicine , biochemistry , chemistry
Background: Social an‐iety disorder (also called social phobia) is an an‐iety disorder in which affected individuals fear the scrutiny of others. Clinical reports suggest that individuals with social an‐iety disorder often use alcohol to alleviate an‐iety symptoms, a practice that leads to alcohol abuse and/or dependence in appro‐imately 20% of affected individuals. The present study investigated whether simultaneous treatment of social phobia and alcoholism, compared with treatment of alcoholism alone, improved alcohol use and social an‐iety for clients with dual diagnoses of social an‐iety disorder and alcohol dependence. Methods: The design was a two‐group, randomized clinical trial that used 12 weeks of individual cognitive behavioral therapy for alcoholism only ( n = 44) or concurrent treatment for both alcohol and social anxiety problems ( n = 49). Outcome data were collected at the end of 12 weeks of treatment and at 3 months after the end of treatment. Results: Results with intent‐to‐treat analyses showed that both groups improved on alcohol‐related outcomes and social an‐iety after treatment. With baseline scores covaried, there was a significant effect of treatment group on several drinking measures. Counter to the hypothesis, the group treated for both alcohol and social an‐iety problems had worse outcomes on three of the four alcohol use indices. No treatment group effects were observed on social an‐iety indices. Conclusions: Implications for the staging of treatments for coe‐isting social phobia and alcoholism are discussed, as well as ways that modality of treatments might impact outcomes.