Patients With Social Anxiety Disorder Treated for Sleep Problems May Have Better Outcomes

For patients with social anxiety disorder who received exposure therapy, poor sleep quality was associated with slower symptom improvement over time, according to astudy published inDepression& Anxiety.“Social anxiety disorder, a prevalent psychiatric diagnosis, is often associated with sleep disturbance,” wrote Christina D. Dutcher, M.Ed., of the University of Texas at Austin; Sheila Dowd, Ph.D., of the Rush University Medical Center; and colleagues. “Sleep difficulties may prove an obstacl e for optimizing therapeutic gains; thus, clinicians should consider assessing for sleep difficulties and incorporate sleep-relevant techniques into their treatment plans.”Dutcher and colleagues analyzed data from a clinical trial involving 152 participants that tested the efficacy of D-cycloserine (DCS) augmentation of exposure therapy. All participants had a score of 60 or greater on the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale and underwent a five-week group exposure therapy protocol that included 90-minute treatment sessions per week. Symptom severity was assessed at baseline; across the course of the intervention; and during one-week, one-month, and three-month follow-up visits. The participants reported their baseline sleep quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, then completed sleep diaries assessing sleep duration and quality on the nights before and after treatment.Participants ’ scores on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index indicated that 56% identified as poor slee...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Depression & Anxiety exposure therapy group therapy sleep sleep duration sleep quality Social anxiety disorder Source Type: research