The Effect of Emotion Regulation Group Therapy on the Symptoms of Social Anxiety Disorder Comorbid with Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Considering the high prevalence of anxiety disorders, the high comorbidity of social anxiety disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, and the negative and lasting effects of social anxiety disorder on various aspects of a person's life, the present study investigated the effect of emotion regulation group therapy on the symptoms of social anxiety disorder comorbid with generalized anxiety disorder.

This was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test and post-test design with control and follow-up groups. The statistical population included all the patients with social anxiety disorder comorbid with generalized anxiety disorder referring to psychotherapy clinics in Shiraz, Iran, from among whom a sample of 30 people were selected by the available sampling method. Data were collected using Structured Clinical Interviews for DSM-5 (SCID-5), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7 and the Social Interaction Anxiety Questionnaire (SIAS) and analyzed with SPSS version 27 software using the analysis of variance method with repeated measurements

The data obtained showed that emotion regulation group therapy could significantly reduce the symptoms of social anxiety disorder (p<0.001) and generalized anxiety disorder (p<0.001), the results remaining stable in a three-month follow-up (p<0.05)

Based on the findings of this study it can be concluded that group therapy of emotion regulation is effective in, and can, thus, be used as a therapeutic intervention for, social anxiety disorder comorbid with generalized anxiety disorder.