2022 Volume 48 Issue 3 Pages 297-307
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) interferes with work and daily life. This study aimed to examine the effect of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) on both social anxiety and presenteeism in the workplace. We developed an original intervention that incorporated a protocol directly focusing on occupational problems into a CBT program for SAD to optimize its effectiveness in the workplace. Thirteen employees who did not have psychiatric diagnoses but met the criteria for social anxiety through a semi-structured interview participated in seven basic sessions and following practical sessions for three months. Participants completed measures of social anxiety and subjective presenteeism at pre-, mid-, and post- assessment. An in-house psychologist who worked in the workplace implemented the optimized program. As a result, significant time effects were found for social anxiety and presenteeism. Specifically, large improvements were found in two measures for social anxiety from pre- to post-assessment (Cohen’s ds=0.91, 1.33), whereas increases in presenteeism were moderate (Cohen’s d=0.78). This study suggests the beneficial effects of CBT-based secondary preventive interventions focusing on both social anxiety and presenteeism in the workplace.
