Behavioural Psychotherapy for Social Phobia and Dysfunction

Abstract

This paper describes two main diagnoses in which social difficulty is a central feature—social phobia & social dysfunction. The borderland between the two conditions requires better definition. Two main therapeutic interventions have been presented—exposure & social skills training, which includes exposure. Their effectiveness in outcome studies has been reviewed. Exposure is useful up to 1-year follow-up, but still longer follow-ups are needed. Whether social dysfunction requires social skills training by a therapist as well as social exposure homework tasks is still an open question. Further research is needed to clarify the relative importance of components of the interventions and demonstrate whether anxiety and lack of skill are useful for differentiating diagnostic types and for predicting appropriate therapeutic interventions.