scholarly journals Imagery rescripting versus cognitive restructuring for social anxiety: Treatment effects and working mechanisms

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Strohm ◽  
Marena Siegesleitner ◽  
Anna E. Kunze ◽  
Thomas Ehring ◽  
Charlotte E. Wittekind
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Cognitive Restructuring ◽  
Anxiety Symptoms ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Speech Task ◽  
Anxiety Treatment ◽  
Imagery Rescripting ◽  
Working Mechanisms

Background Negative mental images in social anxiety are often linked to memories of distressing social experiences. Imagery Rescripting (ImRs) has been found to be a promising intervention to target aversive memories, but mechanisms underlying ImRs are largely unknown. The present study aimed (a) to investigate the effects of ImRs compared to cognitive restructuring (CR) on social anxiety symptoms and (b) to extend previous research by examining whether ImRs works by fostering reappraisal of negative emotional self-beliefs. Method Highly socially anxious individuals (N = 77) were randomly allocated to ImRs, CR, or no intervention control (NIC). A speech task was performed at baseline and at 1-week follow-up. Results Only CR significantly reduced social anxiety symptoms from baseline to follow-up. Decreases in negative appraisals and emotional distress in response to the speech task did not differ between conditions. Regarding working mechanisms, ImRs led to stronger increases in positive emotions than CR and NIC. Both CR and ImRs yielded short-term reductions in emotionally anchored idiosyncratic self-beliefs, but CR was superior to ImRs at follow-up. Conclusions The present study provides evidence for the efficacy of a single-session of CR for social anxiety symptoms. As one specific version of ImRs was applied, it is conceivable that other or optimized versions of ImRs might be more effective.

The Potential of Video Game Streaming as Exposure Therapy for Social Anxiety

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (CHI PLAY) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Julian Frommel ◽  
Martin J. Dechant ◽  
Regan L. Mandryk
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Exposure Therapy ◽  
Cognitive Restructuring ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Controlled Exposure ◽  
Anxiety Treatment ◽  
Social Anxieties ◽  
And Performance

Social anxiety is a prevalent problem that affects many people with varying severity; digital exposure therapy-which involves controlled exposure to simulations of feared social situations alongside cognitive restructuring-can help treat patients with anxieties. However, the need to personalize exposure scenarios and simulate audiences are barriers to treating social anxieties through digital exposure. In this paper, we propose game streaming as an exposure therapy paradigm for social anxiety, supporting it with data from two studies. We first propose a framework describing requirements for exposure therapy and how game streaming can fulfill them. We select demand and performance visibility from these characteristics to showcase how to manipulate them for experiences of gradual exposure. With Study 1, we provide evidence for these characteristics and support for the framework by showing that a game's demand affected expected fear of streaming games. In Study 2, we show that the prospect of streaming led to elevated fear, a necessary property for effective exposure therapy. Further, we show that the effect of streaming on expected fear was similar for participants who can be considered socially anxious. These findings provide evidence for the essential effect of exposure therapy, which serves as a first step towards the validation of streaming as a social anxiety treatment. Our paper provides an initial, important step towards a novel, broadly applicable, and widely accessible digital approach for the treatment of social anxiety.

scholarly journals Imagery Rescripting and Exposure in Social Anxiety: A Randomized Trial Comparing Treatment Techniques

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Knutsson ◽  
Jan-Erik Nilsson ◽  
Åsa Eriksson ◽  
Linda Järild
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Randomized Trial ◽  
Treatment Technique ◽  
Exposure Condition ◽  
Single Session ◽  
Imagery Condition ◽  
Treatment Groups ◽  
Treatment Techniques ◽  
Imagery Rescripting

AbstractThis randomized trial compared the effects of imagery rescripting against in vivo exposure administered separately during a single session with 27 socially anxious individuals. Previous research shows that imagery rescripting is a promising treatment technique for various disorders including social anxiety, although imagery rescripting and exposure for social anxiety have not yet been compared. Social anxiety self-report measures (LSAS-SR and BFNE-II); the distress, vividness, and frequency of fear images (i.e., Imagery condition); and the levels of anxiety, avoidance, and the strength of convictions of a feared social situation (i.e., exposure condition) were rated at baseline, before treatment, and after a 2- and 4-week follow up period. Both treatment groups improved significantly on all measures pre- to post treatment and the effects largely remained at the 4-week follow-up. No significant differences between the treatment groups were found on the anxiety measures. The results suggest that either a single session of imagery rescripting or of exposure are effective in reducing social anxiety, and that both treatment techniques, even when administered in a single session, reduces social anxiety.

Constructive Effects of Engaging in Post-Event Processing in High and Low Socially Anxious Individuals

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 127-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve R. Makkar ◽  
Jessica R. Grisham
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
Performance Appraisals ◽  
Event Processing ◽  
Negative Cognitions ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Response Condition ◽  
Speech Task ◽  
Processing Modes ◽  
Observable Behaviour

Post-event processing (PEP), the act of engaging in a detailed, self-focused, and negative analysis of a prior social situation, has been hypothesised to contribute to the maintenance of social phobia (Clark & Wells, 1995). In light of this proposal, the present study investigated whether deliberate engagement in PEP as opposed to distraction following a speech task elicits unhelpful effects on emotion, cognition, and behaviour in a subsequent speech task in high and low socially anxious participants. The PEP manipulation instructed participants to focus on the anxious thoughts, images, feelings, and somatic sensations relating to the first speech. Contrary to hypotheses, results demonstrated that engaging in PEP as opposed to distraction led to a number of constructive outcomes such as: increased willingness among low socially anxious participants to give the second speech, a reduction in negative performance appraisals and underestimation of performance among high socially anxious participants, and better self-perceived speech quality irrespective of social anxiety level. However, there were no effects of response condition on anxiety, performance appraisals, observable behaviour, and negative cognitions. The findings underscore the need for additional research identifying the precise contents, construals, and processing modes that distinguish between adaptive and maladaptive forms of PEP.

Evidence of Delayed, Recursive Benefits of Self-Affirmation on Anxiety in Socially Anxious University Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 534-561
Author(s):  
Karen O'Brien ◽  
Alyse Sukovieff ◽  
Edward A. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
University Students ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Clinically Significant ◽  
Writing Task

Introduction: Persons with social anxiety disorder (SAD) often experience social interactions as threatening and commonly avoid them or perform poorly in them (Asher et al., 2017). Self-affirmation is an intervention shown to help individuals engage effectively in situations they perceive as threatening (Sherman & Hartson, 2011). We hypothesized that self-affirmation would allow socially anxious individuals to participate in more social activities, do so more effectively, and with less stress and anxiety. Methods: Following completion of baseline measures, 75 socially anxious university students were randomly assigned to complete a self-affirming or control writing task. They subsequently completed the Trier Social Stress Test for Groups (TSST-G), and received SAD psychoeducation designed to promote social engagement over the coming month, after which they were reassessed on baseline measures of social anxiety. Results Self-affirmation demonstrated no benefit at the time of engagement in the TSST-G. However, at follow-up, self-affirmed students reported significantly less discomfort, anxiety, and distress related to a variety of social behaviors as well as more engagement in those behaviors, relative to baseline, compared with non-affirmed students. Moreover, significantly more affirmed than non-affirmed participants reported clinically significant reductions in symptoms of SAD at follow-up. Discussion These results help to broaden our conceptualization of self-affirmation and provide support for its potential utility in treatment for those with SAD.

A longitudinal examination of psychosocial impairment across the anxiety disorders

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (8) ◽  
pp. 1691-1700 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Naragon-Gainey ◽  
M. W. Gallagher ◽  
T. A. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Behavioral Therapy ◽  
Clinical Sample ◽  
Anxiety Symptoms ◽  
Latent Growth ◽  
Psychosocial Impairment ◽  
Co Morbidity

BackgroundAnxiety disorders are highly prevalent disorders associated with substantial psychosocial impairment, but few studies have examined impairment within specific anxiety disorders. Furthermore, it is unclear how change in different types of anxiety has an impact on change in impairment, particularly given high rates of co-morbidity. The current study assessed the temporal associations of impairment and symptoms of three common anxiety disorders in a large, diagnostically heterogeneous clinical sample.MethodData were collected from 606 treatment-seeking individuals at an anxiety clinic, most of whom subsequently enrolled in cognitive-behavioral therapy. Symptoms of panic, social anxiety and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), as well as levels of impairment, were assessed three times over 2 years. In addition to examining levels of impairment across diagnostic groups, latent growth modeling was used to evaluate the longitudinal associations of anxiety symptoms and impairment.ResultsThose with a principal diagnosis of GAD reported higher levels of impairment in some domains at baseline; however, at follow-up assessments individuals with social anxiety disorder reported greater impairment than those with panic disorder. Anxiety symptoms and impairment both declined over time. Change in all three anxiety symptoms was closely associated with change in impairment, but only GAD remained a significant (positive) predictor of change in impairment after accounting for co-morbidity.ConclusionsImpairment and all three anxiety disorders were closely associated, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Because change in GAD was most specifically related to change in impairment, treatment for those with multiple anxiety disorders could focus on treating GAD symptoms first or treating transdiagnostic processes.

Dramatherapy and Social Anxiety

Dramatherapy ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter A.W. Figge
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Group Therapy ◽  
Family Background ◽  
Therapy Group ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Group Sessions ◽  
Therapy Sessions ◽  
Experimental Group

41 socially anxious students who sought psychotherapeutic help at the Counselling and Psychotherapy Center of Hamburg University were treated with dramatherapy In groups. Averaging a twelve-year problem duration of social anxiety, the dramatherapeutic subjects do not differ from the average non-therapy seeking student when compared in general social and family background or in intellectual capability. There are indications for a special helper-helpee relationship between parent and child as prerequisite for the development of social anxiety. After four single therapy sessions, the treatment consisted of 16—three hour group sessions once a week, one of these being a three-day “intensive session” in the seclusion of a country meeting place. A therapy group consisted of eight clients (four female, four male) and one female, one male psychotherapist. In comparing changes of an experimental group (n = 21) after dramatherapy with those of a control group (n = 20) who had been waiting for psychotherapy, drama games and exercises in combination with the work on a specially designed interaction hierarchy proved responsible for significant improvements of the experimental group on cognitive, emotional and behavioural levels. These effects having steadily developed during the process of the group therapy appear to be stable up to seven months after group therapy when follow up interviews were conducted. The therapy procedure Is illustrated, exemplary results are discussed.

scholarly journals Perceptions of Anxiety Symptoms and Disclosure of Anxiety by Others Among Individuals With High Versus Low Levels of Social Anxiety

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bethany A. Gee
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Cognitive Restructuring ◽  
Anxiety Symptoms ◽  
Perceived Similarity ◽  
Target Individual ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
People’S Perceptions

The present study investigated people's perceptions of anxiety symptoms and the disclosure of anxiety by others, and how one's own level of social anxiety affects these perceptions. Participants high (n=80) or low (n=83) in social anxiety were randomly assigned to watch one of four videos in which the target individual either appeared or did not appear anxious, and either disclosed or did not disclose her anxiety. Participants rated the target individual on various characteristics, and completed measures of their own level of social anxiety, perceived similarity to the target individual, and reasons for their ratings. Results indicated that participants negatively evaluated others who looked anxious on the qualities of awkward, socially skilled, and weak, and the disclosure of anxiety partially helped to decrease these negative judgements. Participants' own level of social anxiety did not affect the judgements. These findings may inform the process of cognitive restructuring.

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