Therapeutic response to complex cognitive-behavioral and pharmacological treatment in patients with social phobia

INTRODUCTION: Many different approaches were created and used in the treatment of patients with social phobia, still, the pharmacoresistancy is an important problem. Exact predictors of the therapeutic response are not known yet. The aim of our study was to prove the efficacy of our treatment program and identify predictors of therapeutic response to complex pharmacotherapeutical and cognitive behavioral treatment in pharmacoresistant patients. METHODS: We analyzed data for 50 probands diagnosed with social phobia hospitalized in the psychotherapeutical department of Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Olomouc. We investigated basic demographic data (age, disease duration, age of onset), index of used antidepressant and scores of main rating scales (LSAS, CGI, BAI, BDI, DES a DES-T). We also evaluated an influence of personality disorders. RESULTS: There was an statistically significant decrease in symptomatology in all rating scales during the treatment. Change in LSAS (ratio of initial to last measured score) positively correlated only with age of onset of the disorder. Level of dissociation measured by DES correlated with initial BAI score, in the case of DES-T with initial BAI and BDI. We proved statistically significant differences in the initial BAI score when splitting the group into responders and non-responders by final CGI. There was no statistically significant result if we concentrate on influence of personality disorders. CONCLUSIONS: In our study we proved efficacy complex therapeutical program in the treatment of pharmacoresistant patients with social phobia.