The Effects of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy on Interpersonal Problems in Women with Social Anxiety

Interpersonal communication is among the most basic life functions and the foundation of a healthy relationship. Interpersonal problems are among the main reasons for seeking psychotherapy. These problems indicate that the individual experiences problems with others. It is a source of internal stress in patients with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). An intervention used to treat the issues of anxious people is Intensive Short–Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP). This treatment is based on the theory of psychoanalysis, in which the employed techniques emphasis on clarifying and intensifying the treatment process, transform the structure of long–term changes in conventional psychoanalysis into shorter periods. The current study aimed to evaluate the effects of ISTDP on interpersonal problems in women with SAD.

This was a quasi–experimental study with pretest–posttest–follow–up (6 m) and a control group design. The statistical population consisted of students with interpersonal problems in the Islamic Azad University of Islamshahr Branch in 2017–18. Thirty individuals were selected by the convenience sampling method and randomly divided into the experimental and control groups (n=15/group). The inclusion criteria of the study were receiving SAD without comorbidity with other disorders as the primary diagnosis according to the clinical psychologist and based on the Statistical Manual of Diagnostic Mental Disorders (DSM–5) criteria; participate in the initial interview with the graded format of ISTDP, and not receiving other psychological services. The exclusion criteria included substance or alcohol abuse, receiving medical treatment or any concurrent psychosocial treatment (by self–report), leaving the treatment session, and not attending compensatory or evaluation sessions. The experimental group received 16 sixty–minute ISTDP sessions (Davanloo, 1995); however, the controls received no intervention. Research instruments included the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN; Connor et al. 2000) and Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP–32; Barkham et al. 1996). Descriptive (including frequency, percentage, mean & standard deviation) and inferential statistics, including repeated–measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Independent Samples t–test, Chi–squared test, and Bonferroni post hoc test were used to analyze the obtained data in SPSS at the significance level of 0.05.

Respecting interpersonal problems, the main effect of group (p<0.001), the main effect of time (p<0.001), and the interaction of group and time (p<0.001) were statistically significant. In the explicitness and popularization component, group effect (p=0.001), time effect (p<0.001), and group–time interaction (p=0.007) were significant. The effect of group was not significant in the openness component (p=0.108); however, the effect of time (p=0.005) and the interaction of group and time (p<0.001) were significant. The effect of time (p=0.252) and the interaction of group and time (p=0.088) were not significant in consideration of other components. However, the effect of the group was significant (p<0.001). Moreover, the effect of time was not significant for aggression (p=0.101); however, the effect of group (p<0.001) and the interaction of group and time (p=0.016) were significant. In the component of support and participation, group effect (p<0.001), time effect (p<0.001), and group and time interaction effect (p<0.001) were significant. Respecting dependency, group effect (p<0.001), time effect (p=0.007), and group and time interaction (p=0.002) were significant.Furthermore, there was a significant difference in the experimental group between the mean scores of pretest and posttest in interpersonal problems (p<0.001) and its components, including explicitness and popularization (p<0.001), openness (p=0.004), support and participation (p<0.001), and dependence (p=0.010). Besides, in the experimental group, no significant difference was observed between the mean values of the posttest and follow–up in interpersonal problems (p=0.084) and its components, including explicitness and popularization (p=0.221), openness (p=1.000), support, and participation (p=0.833), and dependence (p=0.431), indicating the effectiveness of ISTDP remained stable on these variables over time.

Based on the present study findings, ISTDP can be used as an effective therapeutic approach to reduce interpersonal problems in women with SAD.