Exposure therapy and sertraline in social phobia: I-year follow-up of a randomised controlled trial.
BACKGROUND
Maintenance of treatment effect is important for the choice of treatment for social phobia.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the effect of exposure therapy and sertraline 28 weeks after cessation of medical treatment.


METHODS
In this study 375 patients with social phobia were randomised to treatment with sertraline or placebo for 24 weeks, with or without the addition of exposure therapy. Fifty-two weeks after inclusion, 328 patients were evaluated by the same psychometric tests as at baseline and the end of treatment (24 weeks).


RESULTS
The exposure therapy group and the placebo group had a further improvement in scores on social phobia during follow-up: mean change in the Clinical Global Impression - Social Phobia overall severity score was 0.45 (95% CI 0.16-0.65, P < 0.01) for the exposure group, and 0.25 (95% CI 0.00-0.48, P < 0.05) for the placebo group. At week 52 the sertraline plus exposure group and the sertraline-alone group had a significant deterioration on the 36-item Short Form Health Survey compared with exposure alone.


CONCLUSIONS
Exposure therapy alone yielded a further improvement during follow-up, whereas exposure therapy combined with sertraline and sertraline alone showed a tendency towards deterioration after the completion of treatment.
Haug
Tone Tangen
TT
Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway.
Blomhoff
Svein
S
Hellstrøm
Kerstin
K
Holme
Ingar
I
Humble
Mats
M
Madsbu
Hans Peter
HP
Wold
Jan Egil
JE
D000328:Adult; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003887:Desensitization, Psychologic / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000628:therapy*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D020280:Sertraline / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012985:Software Design
D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors; D020280:Sertraline