Conditions: Social Anxiety Disorder
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 40
Healthy volunteers: yes

Brief summary:
The purpose of this study is to investigate the utility of Yohimbine hydrochloride for facilitating fear extinction in a sample of patients with social phobia who will be treated with CBT.

Detailed description:
The primary aim is to determine the relative efficacy of exposure-based CBT for social phobia when conducted with adjunctive acute (prior to four of five sessions) administration of either Yohimbine hydrochloride (10.8 mg) or placebo during core exposure sessions. Based on the available evidence, the investigators hypothesize that acute treatment with Yohimbine hydrochloride prior to exposure-based CBT would facilitate the extinction of fear that occurs with this treatment and would enhance treatment outcome.

Arms:
arm 1: Participants will receive placebo (sugar pill) augmented Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy arm 2: Participants will receive Yohimbine Hydrochloride augmented Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Interventions: intervention 1: Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy intervention 2: Yohimbine Hydrochloride intervention 3: Sugar Pill
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: 5 weeks of group CBT for Social Anxiety. The aim of CBT is to help participants become more comfortable with social situations

One arm will receive placebo augmented Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and the other will receive yohimbine hydrochloride augmented cognitive behavioral therapy. intervention 2: Participants in the Yohimbine augmented arm will receive 4 doses of Yohimbine Hydrochloride before 4 of the 5 group cognitive behavioral therapy sessions. intervention 3: Participants in the placebo (sugar pill) augmented arm will receive 4 doses of a sugar pill before 4 of the 5 group cognitive behavioral therapy sessions.

Protocol document: