International application of the “Multidimensional Intervention for Social Anxiety” (MISA) program: I. Treatment effectiveness in patients with social anxiety

Abstract

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is one of the most prevalent disorders worldwide. The goal of this study was to test the effectiveness of the new program “Multidimensional Intervention for Social Anxiety” (MISA) for the treatment of SAD. Sixty-seven people diagnosed with SAD, according to the DSM-5, participated in this study, and they were assessed by means of a semi-structured interview (Salazar & Caballo, 2018) and two self-report measures for social anxiety, the SAQ (Caballo, Salazar, Arias, et al., 2010) and the LSAS-SR (Liebowitz, 1987). Different therapists delivered the treatment in Ecuador, Spain, Paraguay, and Puerto Rico. The results showed significant improvements from pre-treatment to post-treatment, which were maintained at six months. The effect size was between 1 and 2 and, on many occasions, was greater than 2. Although it was compared with a cognitive behavioral therapy group and a pharmacological treatment group, with favorable results for the MISA program, the low number of subjects in the latter groups does not allow clear deductions to be made. In conclusion, this new program for the treatment of social anxiety seems highly effective in the short and medium term and its positive results seem generalizable to different countries.