Social phobia: maintenance models and main components of CBT

Social phobia (SP, or social anxiety disorder, SAD) is among the most common of all psychiatric disorders. SP typically begins early in life and provokes a great deal of impairment and reduction in quality of life. Despite its high prevalence and associated impact, SP has only recently become the focus of clinical research. We review the current CBT literature on SP, focusing on its main components, such as exposure, safety behaviors, cognitive restructuring, post-event processing, attentional retraining and social skills training. We suggest that although CBT for SP is effective, with effect sizes ranging from .6 to 2.6, much room for improvement remains. We conclude by reviewing some new and promising directions in the development of CBT for SP.