Studies in five to 18-year-old children, with a current primary diagnosis of social anxiety of any design, that assessed cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) or selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor (SSRI) treatment, were eligible for inclusion. Social anxiety was defined as a current, primary diagnosis of social phobia or avoidant disorder, or selective mutism with comorbid social phobia or avoidant disorder. Excluded studies evaluated strictly behavioural treatments for social anxiety and those where CBT subjects were currently taking pharmacological agents for the treatment of social anxiety. For inclusion studies had to provide sufficient data to calculate the effect sizes of treatment.
In included studies, cognitive-behavioural treatments included cognitive restructuring, exposure therapy, psycho-education, relaxation training, and social skills training. Parental involvement was included in some CBT studies. SSRI treatments involved fluoxetine in the majority of included studies, as well as citalopram, sertraline, or paroxetine. Included studies reported pre- and post-treatment measures for the constructs: social anxiety symptoms, general anxiousness, social competency, and impairment. In the included studies, children aged six to 19 years of age were diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, social phobia or elective mutism.
The authors did not state how the papers were selected for review, or how many reviewers performed the selection.