Glucocorticoid Treatment for Social Phobia

• Status: Terminated
• Trial end date: 2012-04-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

Social phobia is the third most common psychiatric disorder besides depression and alcoholism. Several studies have demonstrated the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy in the treatment of social phobia. Nevertheless, there is no effect in a third of the people at the existing treatment methods. Pharmacological therapies have similar effects, but there is a high rate of relapse after discontinuation of medication.

Social phobia is characterized by fear of performance or interaction situations. The strong fear of negative evaluation by others is usually accompanied by a marked avoidance behavior and increased physical symptoms such as blushing, sweating, palpitations, or tremors. The confrontation with a phobic stimulus leads to a retrieval of stimulus-associated aversive memories, resulting in an immediate anxiety response. Several studies had already shown that elevated glucocorticoids impair retrieval of declarative memory contents in healthy subjects. The investigators demonstrated an anxiety-reducing effect after the administration of cortisone before the confrontation with a phobic stimulus in patients with social and spider phobia.

• Phase: Phase 2
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Details

• Lead Sponsor: University Hospital Inselspital, Berne
• Collaborator: University of Basel
• Treatments: Cortisol succinate; Glucocorticoids; Hydrocortisone; Hydrocortisone 17-butyrate 21-propionate; Hydrocortisone acetate

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age (20-55)

• Spider Phobia

• Right Handed

• Social Phobia

Exclusion Criteria:

• Other Psychiatric Disorder / Comorbidities

• Smoking more than 15 cigarettes per day

• Medication

• Contraceptives

• Physical illness

• Neurological disease

• Drug abuse