title: Psychological group-treatments of social anxiety disorder: a meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A few meta-analyses have examined psychological treatments for a social anxiety disorder (SAD). This is the first meta-analysis that examines the effects of cognitive behavioural group therapies (CBGT) for SAD compared to control on symptoms of anxiety.
  
  
  METHODS
  After a systematic literature search in PubMed, Cochrane, PsychINFO and Embase was conducted; eleven studies were identified that met the inclusion criteria. The studies had to be randomized controlled studies in which individuals with a diagnosed SAD were treated with cognitive-behavioural group therapy (CBGT) and compared with a control group. The overall quality of the studies was moderate.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The pooled effect size indicated that the difference between intervention and control conditions was 0.53 (96% CI: 0.33-0.73), in favour of the intervention. This corresponds to a NNT 3.24. Heterogeneity was low to moderately high in all analyses. There was some indication of publication bias.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It was found that psychological group-treatments CBGT are more effective than control conditions in patients with SAD. Since heterogeneity between studies was high, more research comparing group psychotherapies for SAD to control is needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wersebe
authors.forename: Marit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sijbrandij
authors.forename: Pim
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cuijpers
mesh_terms: D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group; D012920:Social Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*