55 Endogenous testosterone levels are predictive of symptom reduction with exposure therapy in social anxiety disorder though proven useful for testing mechanisms of action and augmentation strategies (Rodebaugh et al., 2013), the use of a standardized single-session approach leaves open the question whether the observed findings translate to multiple-session protocols that are standard in practice. Third, the sample size was not sufficient to detect small effects. Fourth, our sample was unbalanced with respect to gender although we could confirm that the effect held tested in women alone (Chapter 3 - Appendix 2), we were underpowered to examine whether similar effects would hold for men alone. In summary, pre-treatment endogenous testosterone levels were predictive of efficacy of an exposure session in patients with social anxiety disorder. The finding that low baseline testosterone levels as well as high reactive testosterone levels prior to the exposure session predicted treatment outcome in SAD, suggest that good reactivity of the HPG-axis may be a promising marker for symptom-reducing effects of exposure therapy. These findings support the further investigation into exposure-enhancing effects of testosterone in patients with SAD. 3
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