The enhancing effects of testosterone in exposure treatment for social anxiety disorder: a randomized proof-of-concept trial 2017-2021

This dataset contains the analyzed variables for the paper: The enhancing effects of testosterone in exposure treatment for social anxiety disorder: a randomized proof-of-concept trial. For example descriptives of participants, subjective units of distress ratings, during exposure, hormone data and social anxiety symptom ratings.

Abstract of paper:
Individuals with a social anxiety disorder (SAD) show hypofunctioning of the hypothalamus–pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis, which is
linked to social fear and avoidance behavior. As testosterone administration has been shown to facilitate social-approach behavior
in this population, it may enhance the effectiveness of exposure treatment. In this proof-of-concept study, we performed a
randomized clinical assay in which 55 women diagnosed with SAD received two exposure therapy sessions. Session 1 was
supplemented with either testosterone (0.50 mg) or placebo. Next, transfer effects of testosterone augmentation on withinsession
subjective fear responses and SAD symptom severity were assessed during a second, unenhanced exposure session
(session 2) and at a 1-month follow-up, respectively. The participants having received testosterone showed a more reactive fear
pattern, with higher peaks and steeper reductions in fear levels in session 2. Post-hoc exploration of moderating effects of
endogenous testosterone levels, revealed that this pattern was specific for women with high basal testosterone, both in the
augmented and in the transfer session. In contrast, the participants with low endogenous testosterone showed reduced peak fear
levels throughout session 1, again with transfer to the unenhanced session. Testosterone did not significantly affect self-reported
anxiety. The effects of testosterone supplementation on fear levels show transfer to non-enhanced exposure, with effects being
modulated by endogenous testosterone. These first preliminary results indicate that testosterone may act on important fear
mechanisms during exposure, providing the empirical groundwork for further exploration of multi-session testosterone-enhanced
exposure treatment for SAD.