A recent study from the Netherlands discovered that women with social anxiety disorder who displayed strong avoidance tendencies experienced significant reductions in fear during therapy sessions after receiving testosterone. This effect, however, did not persist into subsequent sessions and did not impact the severity of their symptoms. The study was published in Psychoneuroendocrinology.
Social anxiety disorder is a mental health condition characterized by an intense and persistent fear of social situations. Individuals with this disorder often experience overwhelming anxiety and self-consciousness in social interactions, leading to a strong desire to avoid social events. Physical symptoms such as trembling, sweating, and a rapid heartbeat may accompany these feelings of distress. Social anxiety can significantly impact a person’s daily life, hindering their ability to form relationships, attend social gatherings, or perform in public.
Standard treatment for the disorder includes therapy and psychiatric medications, but scientists are constantly looking for new treatment options as well. One potentially promising substance for this purpose is testosterone, the male sex hormone. Previous studies indicated that its administration can stimulate approach behaviors in healthy individuals, but also in highly avoidant individuals with social anxiety disorder.
To further investigate this, study author Moniek H.M. Hutschemaekers and her colleagues conducted an experiment on 55 female participants suffering from social anxiety disorder, aged between 18 and 43 years. They were randomly assigned to receive either testosterone or a placebo treatment administered four hours before the first exposure therapy session.
The results indicated that those assigned to the testosterone treatment, particularly participants with higher avoidance tendencies, showed a greater reduction in fear immediately after taking testosterone compared to those with lesser avoidance tendencies. This effect was not observed in the placebo group.
The study adds to the literature indicating that individuals with social anxiety disorder who enter exposure treatment with strong social avoidance tendencies may benefit from additional treatment with testosterone. However, the study sample was very small which limited the ability to detect small effects. The study was published in Psychoneuroendocrinology and authored by Moniek H. M. Hutschemaekers, Rianne A. de Kleine, Mirjam Kampman, Jasper A.J. Smits, and Karin Roelofs. If you want to read the full paper, you can access it through this link.
