Placebo effects in the treatment of male dating anxiety

Abstract

The outcomes of cognitive-behavioral and high credibility placebo group treatments were compared in a sample of nineteen heterosocially anxious males. At post-test and at a 3-month follow-up, both treatments showed improvement on self-report measures of interpersonal functioning (ps < 0.05). The cognitive-behavioral treatment showed a consistent pattern of improvement on self-report and behavioral measures of anxiety (ps < 0.05), but, overall, the groups showed comparable levels of effectiveness. The possibility that both treatments relied on placebo mechanisms is discussed.