Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)RA-SAD-001NCT07325929
Online Radical Acceptance Intervention for Social Anxiety Disorder
A study testing Radical Acceptance and Relaxation Skills in people with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), run by University of Haifa at 1 site in Israel.
Trial summary
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if a self-guided online Radical Acceptance program helps reduce symptoms of Social Anxiety Disorder. The study will also compare this program to an online relaxation skills program. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 45 years
- Conditions the study is for
- Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)
- What is being tested?
- Radical Acceptance and Relaxation Skills
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 100 participants
- Where
- 1 siteIsrael
- Study dates
- 16 Dec 2025to 1 Apr 2027
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 to 45 years
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult
Who may be able to join
- Aged 18-45
- Score > 9 on Mini-SPIN
- Positive responses in brief phone screening
- Eligibility confirmed in Zoom interview using ADIS
- Native Hebrew speakers
- Having regular access to a computer.
Who cannot join
- Changes in psychiatric medication in the past 3 months
- Current or past diagnosis of bipolar disorder
- Current or past diagnosis of schizophrenia
- Current or past diagnosis of PTSD
- Current or past diagnosis of substance use disorder
- History of traumatic brain injury (TBI)
- Previous experience with Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Currently receiving psychotherapy specifically targeting social anxiety
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
Israel1 site, 1 recruiting
- Recruiting
University of Haifa
Haifa, 3498838
Noam Beker, 0542249161, nweinbach@psy.haifa.ac.il
About this study
Official title: Online Radical Acceptance Intervention for Social Anxiety Disorder: a Randomized Controlled Trial
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if a self-guided online Radical Acceptance program helps reduce symptoms of Social Anxiety Disorder. The study will also compare this program to an online relaxation skills program.
The main questions are:
Read more
- Does the Radical Acceptance program lower symptoms of Social Anxiety Disorder?
- Is the Radical Acceptance program more helpful than relaxation skills?
Adults with Social Anxiety Disorder will be randomly assigned to one of two online programs. They will complete a baseline learning session and six short home practice sessions over two weeks. Participants will answer surveys about their symptoms and complete brief computer tasks. Researchers will measure changes in social anxiety at several points during the study and again a few weeks and a few months later.
Read the detailed description
This randomized controlled trial will evaluate a self-guided online Radical Acceptance intervention for adults with Social Anxiety Disorder. The intervention is adapted from Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and is designed to help individuals notice and accept difficult thoughts and feelings that arise during social situations. The study will compare this program with an active control condition that provides training in relaxation skills, also adapted from DBT, which focus on physiological strategies for reducing acute emotional arousal.
The study will enroll 100 adults diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder. All study activities take place online. After eligibility is confirmed through structured diagnostic interviews, participants will complete a baseline learning session followed by six home practice sessions delivered over a two-week period. Participants in both conditions will receive culturally adapted video-based training followed by a brief debriefing to ensure understanding and correct application of the assigned skill.
The trial is designed to examine changes in social anxiety symptoms over time and to compare the effects of Radical Acceptance and relaxation skills training. In addition to symptom outcomes, the study will assess several proposed mechanisms of change. These mechanisms include interpretation bias and emotion regulation flexibility measured through behavioral tasks, as well as experiential avoidance, rumination, and difficulties in emotion regulation measured through self-report instruments. Mechanism assessments will be completed at baseline and after the fourth practice session. Participants will also report their momentary positive and negative emotions before and after each practice session.
Recruitment will occur through online advertisements. Screening includes an online questionnaire followed by a telephone interview and a video-based diagnostic assessment using the ADIS-5 and selected DIAMOND modules, administered by trained graduate students. Eligible individuals will provide informed consent for both the assessment session and the intervention phase of the study.
Participants will be randomly assigned by an automated algorithm to one of the two study conditions. All assessments and intervention procedures will be completed remotely. The study includes follow-up assessments at three weeks and three months after the intervention to evaluate the stability of treatment effects.
- Conditions
- Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)
- Being tested
- Radical Acceptance, Relaxation Skills
- Keywords
- social anxiety disorder, acceptance, emotion regulation, guided self-help, digital intervention
- Medical subject headings
- Phobia, Social, Emotional Regulation
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Radical AcceptanceBehavioural
Online DBT-based program focusing on implementing radical acceptance in daily life and coping with socially anxious situations.
Relaxation SkillsBehavioural
Online DBT-based program teaching relaxation techniques to achieve rapid physiological down-regulation and improve emotional control.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Radical Acceptance | Experimental | Participants will receive an online radical acceptance training based on DBT principles. The intervention consists of six guided exercises delivered over a two-week period, designed to enhance acceptance of distressing internal experiences. Receives: Behavioral: Radical Acceptance |
| Relaxation Skills | Active comparator | Participants will receive an online training in DBT TIPP relaxation skills (Temperature, Intense Exercise, Paced Breathing/Progressive Muscle Relaxation). The intervention includes six guided exercises over two weeks, aiming to rapidly decrease physiological arousal and support emotion regulation under stress. Receives: Behavioral: Relaxation Skills |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale
Change in social anxiety symptoms using the self-report Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS). In this questionnaire, participants are asked to respond to 24 social situations by marking how much they feel fear in each situation (anxiety subscale) and to which extent they will avoid this situation (avoidance subscale) on a 0-3 Likert scale. This measure ranges 0-144; higher scores indicate greater social anxiety severity.
Measured: baseline, after session 4 (~1 week), 2 weeks (end of treatment), 3-week follow-up, 3-month follow-up
Secondary outcomes (2)
Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7
Change in social anxiety symptoms using the self-report Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7). Participants rate how frequently they have been bothered by each symptom over the past two weeks using a 4-point Likert scale (0-3). This questionnaire ranges 0-21; higher scores indicate greater anxiety severity.
Measured: baseline, after session 4 (~1 week), 2 weeks (end of treatment), 3-week follow-up, 3-month follow-up
Patient Health Questionnaire-9
Change in depressive symptoms will be assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Respondents report how often they have experienced each symptom over the past two weeks using a 4-point Likert scale (0-3). This questionnaire ranges 0-27; higher scores indicate greater depressive symptom severity.
Measured: Time Frame: baseline, after session 4 (~1 week), 2 weeks (end of treatment), 3-week follow-up, 3-month follow-up
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted8 Jan 2026
- Study start16 Dec 2025
- Primary completion1 Jan 2027 (estimated)
- Study completion1 Apr 2027 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)Studies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Model description
- This is a two-arm parallel randomized controlled trial in which participants are assigned to either a self-guided online Radical Acceptance intervention or an active relaxation skills training control condition. All participants complete the same assessment schedule, and each individual receives only the intervention assigned at random.
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 100 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University of Haifa
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Noam Weinbach, PhD, Principal investigator, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07325929
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 457-25
- Acronym
- RA-SAD-001
- Status last verified
- Dec 2025
- First submitted
- 2 Dec 2025
- Last updated
- 6 May 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Undecided: Data sharing will depend on ethical approvals, institutional policies, and participant privacy considerations. A final decision about IPD sharing will be made after study completion.
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 6 May 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Online Radical Acceptance Intervention for Social Anxiety Disorder: a Randomized Controlled Trial
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07325929
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- RA-SAD-001 / 457-25
- Conditions
- Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)
- Keywords
- social anxiety disorder, acceptance, emotion regulation, guided self-help, digital intervention
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Recruiting
- Enrolment
- 100 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- University of HaifaUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 16 Dec 2025 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 1 Jan 2027 (estimated)
- Study completion
- 1 Apr 2027 (estimated)
- First posted
- 8 Jan 2026 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if a self-guided online Radical Acceptance program helps reduce symptoms of Social Anxiety Disorder. The study will also compare this program to an online relaxation skills program.
The main questions are:
- Does the Radical Acceptance program lower symptoms of Social Anxiety Disorder?
- Is the Radical Acceptance program more helpful than relaxation skills?
Adults with Social Anxiety Disorder will be randomly assigned to one of two online programs. They will complete a baseline learning session and six short home practice sessions over two weeks. Participants will answer surveys about their symptoms and complete brief computer tasks. Researchers will measure changes in social anxiety at several points during the study and again a few weeks and a few months later.
Detailed description
This randomized controlled trial will evaluate a self-guided online Radical Acceptance intervention for adults with Social Anxiety Disorder. The intervention is adapted from Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and is designed to help individuals notice and accept difficult thoughts and feelings that arise during social situations. The study will compare this program with an active control condition that provides training in relaxation skills, also adapted from DBT, which focus on physiological strategies for reducing acute emotional arousal.
The study will enroll 100 adults diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder. All study activities take place online. After eligibility is confirmed through structured diagnostic interviews, participants will complete a baseline learning session followed by six home practice sessions delivered over a two-week period. Participants in both conditions will receive culturally adapted video-based training followed by a brief debriefing to ensure understanding and correct application of the assigned skill.
The trial is designed to examine changes in social anxiety symptoms over time and to compare the effects of Radical Acceptance and relaxation skills training. In addition to symptom outcomes, the study will assess several proposed mechanisms of change. These mechanisms include interpretation bias and emotion regulation flexibility measured through behavioral tasks, as well as experiential avoidance, rumination, and difficulties in emotion regulation measured through self-report instruments. Mechanism assessments will be completed at baseline and after the fourth practice session. Participants will also report their momentary positive and negative emotions before and after each practice session.
Recruitment will occur through online advertisements. Screening includes an online questionnaire followed by a telephone interview and a video-based diagnostic assessment using the ADIS-5 and selected DIAMOND modules, administered by trained graduate students. Eligible individuals will provide informed consent for both the assessment session and the intervention phase of the study.
Participants will be randomly assigned by an automated algorithm to one of the two study conditions. All assessments and intervention procedures will be completed remotely. The study includes follow-up assessments at three weeks and three months after the intervention to evaluate the stability of treatment effects.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 2
- Model description
- This is a two-arm parallel randomized controlled trial in which participants are assigned to either a self-guided online Radical Acceptance intervention or an active relaxation skills training control condition. All participants complete the same assessment schedule, and each individual receives only the intervention assigned at random.
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Radical Acceptance | Experimental | Behavioral: Radical AcceptanceParticipants will receive an online radical acceptance training based on DBT principles. The intervention consists of six guided exercises delivered over a two-week period, designed to enhance acceptance of distressing internal experiences. |
| Relaxation Skills | Active comparator | Behavioral: Relaxation SkillsParticipants will receive an online training in DBT TIPP relaxation skills (Temperature, Intense Exercise, Paced Breathing/Progressive Muscle Relaxation). The intervention includes six guided exercises over two weeks, aiming to rapidly decrease physiological arousal and support emotion regulation under stress. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 to 45 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult
Key inclusion criteria (6 listed)
- Aged 18-45
- Score > 9 on Mini-SPIN
- Positive responses in brief phone screening
- Eligibility confirmed in Zoom interview using ADIS
- Native Hebrew speakers
Key exclusion criteria (8 listed)
- Changes in psychiatric medication in the past 3 months
- Current or past diagnosis of bipolar disorder
- Current or past diagnosis of schizophrenia
- Current or past diagnosis of PTSD
- Current or past diagnosis of substance use disorder
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Radical AcceptanceOnline DBT-based program focusing on implementing radical acceptance in daily life and coping with socially anxious situations. | Behavioural | Radical Acceptance |
| Relaxation SkillsOnline DBT-based program teaching relaxation techniques to achieve rapid physiological down-regulation and improve emotional control. | Behavioural | Relaxation Skills |
Primary outcome
Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale
Time frame: baseline, after session 4 (~1 week), 2 weeks (end of treatment), 3-week follow-up, 3-month follow-up
Change in social anxiety symptoms using the self-report Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS). In this questionnaire, participants are asked to respond to 24 social situations by marking how much they feel fear in each situation (anxiety subscale) and to which extent they will avoid this situation (avoidance subscale) on a 0-3 Likert scale. This measure ranges 0-144; higher scores indicate greater social anxiety severity.
2 secondary outcomes
Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7
Time frame: baseline, after session 4 (~1 week), 2 weeks (end of treatment), 3-week follow-up, 3-month follow-up
Patient Health Questionnaire-9
Time frame: Time Frame: baseline, after session 4 (~1 week), 2 weeks (end of treatment), 3-week follow-up, 3-month follow-up
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 6 May 2026.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Undecided. Data sharing will depend on ethical approvals, institutional policies, and participant privacy considerations. A final decision about IPD sharing will be made after study completion.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part.
Noam Weinbach, PhD principal investigator
School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Radical Acceptance and Relaxation Skills in people with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), run by University of Haifa at 1 site in Israel.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 6 inclusion and 8 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: looking for participants now, as of the sponsor's last update on 6 May 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in Israel. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
Contact Noam Weinbach, PhD (+972542249161, nweinbach@psy.haifa.ac.il), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (time frame: baseline, after session 4 (~1 week), 2 weeks (end of treatment), 3-week follow-up, 3-month follow-up). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 6 May 2026.