Safety Behaviors and Stuttering

2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 1246-1253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robyn Lowe ◽  
Fjola Helgadottir ◽  
Ross Menzies ◽  
Rob Heard ◽  
Sue O'Brian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Fear Of Negative Evaluation ◽  
Safety Behaviors ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Negative Cognitions ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Therapy Program ◽  
Potential Safety ◽  
Social Encounters ◽  
Adults Who Stutter

Purpose Those who are socially anxious may use safety behaviors during feared social interactions to prevent negative outcomes. Safety behaviors are associated with anxiety maintenance and poorer treatment outcomes because they prevent fear extinction. Social anxiety disorder is often comorbid with stuttering. Speech pathologists reported in a recent publication (Helgadottir, Menzies, Onslow, Packman, & O'Brian, 2014a) that they often recommended procedures for clients that could be safety behaviors. This study investigated the self-reported use of safety behaviors by adults who stutter. Method Participants were 133 adults who stutter enrolled in an online cognitive-behavior therapy program. Participants completed a questionnaire about their use of potential safety behaviors when anxious during social encounters. Correlations were computed between safety behaviors and pretreatment scores on measures of fear of negative evaluation and negative cognitions. Results Of 133 participants, 132 reported that they used safety behaviors. Many of the safety behaviors correlated with higher scores for fear of negative evaluation and negative cognitions. Conclusions Adults who stutter report using safety behaviors, and their use is associated with pretreatment fear of negative evaluation and unhelpful thoughts about stuttering. These results suggest that the negative effects of safety behaviors may extend to those who stutter, and further research is needed.

scholarly journals Are you Watching Me? Interacting Effects of Fear of Negative Evaluation and Social Context on Cognitive Performance

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin L. Maresh ◽  
Bethany A. Teachman ◽  
James A. Coan
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Fear Of Negative Evaluation ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Improved Accuracy

Socially anxious individuals exhibit cognitive performance impairments; it is unclear whether this is due to trait differences in abilities or effects of the experimental context. This study sought to determine how social context, individual differences in fear of negative evaluation (FNE), and task difficulty interact to influence working memory performance as indicated by effectiveness (accuracy) and efficiency (reaction times). Participants (N = 61) performed the n-back task at 2-back and 3-back difficulty levels under three conditions: alone (“Anonymous”), in presence of a non-evaluative experimenter (“Presence”), and under explicit performance evaluation by the experimenter (“Threat”). Overall, participants showed improved accuracy during Threat, but only on 2-back trials. FNE was positively associated with longer reaction times during Threat on 3-back trials. FNE did not relate to accuracy, suggesting that threat-related impairments tied to social anxiety may alter efficiency rather than effectiveness. Thus, social anxiety may elicit cognitive performance impairments even in minimally evaluative environments.

Examining self-verification processes in social anxiety

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitchell P. A. Howarth ◽  
Miriam Forbes
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Negative Feedback ◽  
Positive Feedback ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Fear Of Negative Evaluation ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Negative Beliefs ◽  
Positive And Negative Feedback

AbstractSocially anxious individuals hold negative beliefs about their appearance, abilities and personality. These negative self-conceptions increase expectations of negative evaluation from others and, consequently increase anxiety. Self-verification theory states that individuals seek, accept and prefer feedback that is congruent with their self-conceptions. This study explored the assumptions of self-verification theory in social anxiety. This was achieved by examining the type of feedback socially anxious individuals seek and how positive and negative feedback is processed. Results from an undergraduate sample (n = 84) indicate that socially anxious individuals were no more or less likely to seek negative feedback than individuals with low social anxiety. However, participants with greater social anxiety rated positive feedback as less accurate, rated negative feedback as more accurate, and were more comfortable with negative feedback, compared to participants with low social anxiety. Greater social anxiety was also found to predict increased discomfort with positive feedback, and fear of negative evaluation fully mediated this relationship. These findings suggest that self-verification processes operate in social anxiety and highlight the need for researchers to include measures of fears of evaluation when examining self-verification theory in samples of socially anxious individuals.

Symptom Accommodation Related to Social Anxiety Symptoms in Adults: Phenomenology, Correlates, and Impairment

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nayana Joogoolsingh ◽  
Monica S. Wu ◽  
Adam B. Lewin ◽  
Eric A. Storch
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Anxiety Sensitivity ◽  
Anxiety Symptom ◽  
Anxiety Symptoms ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Fear Of Negative Evaluation ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
General Anxiety

Background and Objectives: Socially anxious individuals often engage in various safety and avoidant behaviors to temporarily decrease distress. Similarly, friends or family members may engage in accommodating behaviors, commonly manifesting through the facilitation of avoidance, completion of tasks, or schedule modifications. Studies examining symptom accommodation in adult social anxiety are lacking, so this study seeks to better understand symptom accommodation and its consequent impairment in socially anxious adults. Design and Methods: There were 380 undergraduate students who completed a battery of self-report questionnaires through an online system. Constructs assessed include social anxiety, symptom accommodation, and impairment as well as related variables such as general anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, alcohol use, and anxiety sensitivity. Results: Symptom accommodation was positively correlated with social anxiety symptoms, functional impairment, general anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, fear of negative evaluation, and alcohol use. Individuals with considerable social anxiety reported significantly higher levels of symptom accommodation than individuals who reported lower levels of social anxiety. Anxiety sensitivity predicted symptom accommodation beyond the contribution of social anxiety. Symptom accommodation mediated the relationship between social anxiety and impairment. Conclusions: These data help elucidate the presentation and impact of symptom accommodation related to social anxiety. Implications for assessment, treatment, and future directions are presented.

Fear of People

2019 ◽  
pp. 121-148
Author(s):  
Jasper A. J. Smits ◽  
Mark B. Powers ◽  
Michael W. Otto
Keyword(s):  
Successful Treatment ◽  
Exposure Therapy ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Fear Of Negative Evaluation ◽  
Safety Behaviors ◽  
Case Examples

Chapter 6 describes exposure therapy for the fear of people (fear of negative evaluation). Successful treatment shifts the perception of seeing other’s evaluations as harmful to viewing these evaluations as lacking true danger. The chapter includes the steps to plan, deliver, and process exposures to alleviate fears of people. Patients with these fears tend to overestimate the likelihood and cost of bad outcomes when they are the center of attention. Thus, different exposures are needed to address these two concerns. Example exposures are presented such as presentations, interactions, being observed, and inconveniencing others. Case examples are provided to demonstrate how to use exposure for fears of people along with modifications to address traps, contexts, and safety behaviors.

Clinical Response to Questions Regarding Outcomes and Therapy Efficacy

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 76-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Donaher ◽  
Tom Gurrister ◽  
Irving Wollman ◽  
Tim Mackesey ◽  
Michelle L. Burnett
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Clinical Response ◽  
Speech Language Pathologists ◽  
Specific Therapy ◽  
Therapy Efficacy ◽  
Therapy Program ◽  
Adults Who Stutter ◽  
Cure Rates

Parents of children who stutter and adults who stutter frequently ask speech-language pathologists to predict whether or not therapy will work. Even though research has explored risk-factors related to persistent stuttering, there remains no way to determine how an individual will react to a specific therapy program. This paper presents various clinicians’answers to the question, “What do you tell parents or adults who stutter when they ask about cure rates, outcomes, and therapy efficacy?”

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