Modified CBT for social anxiety and social functioning in young adults with autism spectrum disorder.
Emily R Bemmer, Kelsie A Boulton, Emma E Thomas and 4 others
PMID 33557903WHAT IT FOUND
Young adults with autism reported lower social anxiety and stress after an eight-week modified CBT group, but overall social functioning did not improve significantly.
Without a control group, these gains cannot be proven to come from the therapy.
Key findings
01Participants reported statistically significant reductions in social anxiety, fear, avoidance, and social interaction anxiety, with small effect sizes.
02Overall social functioning scores did not change significantly, though social motivation and restricted repetitive behaviours showed small improvements.
03Secondary measures of depression, anxiety, and stress showed statistically significant improvements with small effect sizes, but psychological distress did not.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
There was no control group, so improvements cannot be attributed to the intervention alone; they could be due to the routine of attending or natural fluctuation. The study relied entirely on self-report measures, which may be affected by social desirability or limited introspection. Participants with intellectual disability were excluded, so results do not apply to that population. The study did not measure whether the gains were maintained over time after the eight-week program ended. Post-questionnaire non-completers had significantly lower baseline social anxiety scores, which may bias the results toward those with more severe symptoms.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the Australian Research Council Linkage Grant and the National Health and Medical Research Council. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the significant improvements in social anxiety and mood as proof that this specific CBT program causes change. The study had no control group, so these gains could be due to the passage of time, the effort of attending a routine, or regression to the mean. Furthermore, overall social functioning did not improve significantly, so the program should not be sold as a fix for social skill deficits.