Group exposure and response prevention for college students with social anxiety: A randomized clinical trial

Objective Social anxiety increases college student drop‐out risk and stifles employment opportunities. Group cognitive‐behavioral therapy with exposure (CBT ERP) has the potential to alleviate campus resource strain but remains under‐researched with college students. The present study investigated the efficacy of group CBT ERP in a randomized clinical trial on a college campus. Method Thirty‐one postsecondary students were randomly assigned to an exposure‐only group or an active control. Results Linear mixed‐effects models indicated significant Group × Time interactions for general social anxiety (t = −2.02, g = 0.62) and depression (t = −2.77, g = 0.55); nonsignificant main effects were found for group and time variables. On a measure of fear of negative evaluation, only the main effect of time was significant (t = 2.15, p = 0.032). Conclusions When compared to an active control group, CBT ERP is an efficacious and time‐effective treatment for college students experiencing social anxiety.