Researchers at the Boston University Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders have discovered a new way to treat social anxiety disorder (SAD), a disorder that, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, causes intense fear and anxiety during social situations and affects approximately 3.7 percent of Americans every year.
Researchers at CARD discovered that D-cysloserine, a drug commonly used to treat tuberculosis, is also a “memory enhancer for cognitive behavioral therapy, a type of therapy used to treat SAD,” CARD Associate Director Dr. Michael Otto said.
“We hope that this discovery will make treatment work better and faster for people who suffer from Social Anxiety Disorder,” the psychology professor said.
Researchers at CARD decided to test the drug’s effect on SAD sufferers when they learned of research suggesting that the drug helped rats overcome fears faster, Otto said.
Researchers tested the drug by having SAD sufferers take the drug before four of five cognitive behavioral therapy sessions.
According to Otto, they found that SAD sufferers who took the drug before therapy sessions experienced less stress with public speaking than those who did not.
“We found that subjects who took the drug learned much faster not to fear social situations,” he said.
Otto said researchers hope the drug will also benefit SAD patients who have not experienced improvement after cognitive therapy sessions.
“We really hope it will offer the treatment refractory new hope,” he said.
Psychology professor James Cherry said he hopes the discovery will generate more research into the drug’s potential benefits.
“[The discovery] opens a large, new window of potential treatment strategies for a wide range of disorders,” he said.
CARD has applied for a federal grant so it can conduct more tests on the drug on a larger scale.
Currently, CARD is studying whether the drug can also benefit people struggling with panic disorders. They may also conduct a study to see if verbal memory might also be affected by pill, Otto said.
“This is an exciting discovery,” he said. “It’s unclear whether other kinds of memory are affected by the drug.”
This finding will gain lots of attention because it represents a new way of combining medication and cognitive behavioral therapy, he said.
“Hopefully, it will encourage a new direction in therapy and treatment of SAD and other disorders,” he said.
The discovery will keep CARD in one of the premier spots nationally and internationally for treatment of disorders, CARD Nurse Administrator Bonnie Conklin said.
“The discovery will continue to bring the center into public view and remind people that we are always working on developing and advancing treatments for anxiety and related disorders,” she said.