Health & Medicine
Talk Therapy Is Key To Treating Anxiety Issues
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Sep 28, 2014 08:23 PM EDT
A combination of counseling and medication can provide optimal benefits for various psychiatric health issues. However, recent findings published in the journal The Lancet Psychiatry show that for treating social anxiety problems, the most effective treatment may be cognitive behavioral therapy.
Social anxiety disorder, also known as a psychiatric condition in which patients suffer from intense fear and avoidance of social situations, affects close to 13 percent of Americans and Europeans.
"Social anxiety is more than just shyness," said lead study author Evan Mayo-Wilson, DPhil, a research scientist in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in the press release. "People with this disorder can experience severe impairment, from shunning friendships to turning down promotions at work that would require increased social interaction. The good news from our study is that social anxiety is treatable. Now that we know what works best, we need to improve access to psychotherapy for those who are suffering."
For the study, researchers analyzed data from 101 clinical trials that included more than 13,000 participants and compared multiple types of medication, as well as talk therapy.
"Greater investment in psychological therapies would improve quality of life, increase workplace productivity, and reduce healthcare costs," Mayo-Wilson concluded. "The healthcare system does not treat mental health equitably, but meeting demand isn't simply a matter of getting insurers to pay for psychological services. We need to improve infrastructure to treat mental health problems as the evidence shows they should be treated. We need more programs to train clinicians, more experienced supervisors who can work with new practitioners, more offices, and more support staff."
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First Posted: Sep 28, 2014 08:23 PM EDT
A combination of counseling and medication can provide optimal benefits for various psychiatric health issues. However, recent findings published in the journal The Lancet Psychiatry show that for treating social anxiety problems, the most effective treatment may be cognitive behavioral therapy.
Social anxiety disorder, also known as a psychiatric condition in which patients suffer from intense fear and avoidance of social situations, affects close to 13 percent of Americans and Europeans.
"Social anxiety is more than just shyness," said lead study author Evan Mayo-Wilson, DPhil, a research scientist in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in the press release. "People with this disorder can experience severe impairment, from shunning friendships to turning down promotions at work that would require increased social interaction. The good news from our study is that social anxiety is treatable. Now that we know what works best, we need to improve access to psychotherapy for those who are suffering."
For the study, researchers analyzed data from 101 clinical trials that included more than 13,000 participants and compared multiple types of medication, as well as talk therapy.
"Greater investment in psychological therapies would improve quality of life, increase workplace productivity, and reduce healthcare costs," Mayo-Wilson concluded. "The healthcare system does not treat mental health equitably, but meeting demand isn't simply a matter of getting insurers to pay for psychological services. We need to improve infrastructure to treat mental health problems as the evidence shows they should be treated. We need more programs to train clinicians, more experienced supervisors who can work with new practitioners, more offices, and more support staff."
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone