NCT00862212 tested whether adding a brief alcohol intervention after beginning paroxetine improved drinking outcomes in people with social anxiety and at-risk drinking. All 83 participants received anxiety treatment; the randomized question was the added alcohol-focused intervention, not paroxetine versus placebo. 12
The original Book and colleagues paper found improvement over time in social-anxiety severity and self-reported drinking to cope in both groups. The added brief intervention did not significantly reduce alcohol consumption relative to paroxetine alone; the abstract reports no main group effect on drinking measures, with P values above .3. 2
That distinction matters: feeling less socially anxious or reporting less coping-motivated drinking is not the same as consuming less alcohol. The study does not support assuming that anxiety treatment alone resolves hazardous alcohol use. Because both groups received paroxetine, within-group improvement cannot provide a new placebo-controlled estimate of paroxetine's effect. 2