Dare to Approach

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 1073-1079 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorien Enter ◽  
Philip Spinhoven ◽  
Karin Roelofs
Keyword(s):  
Controlled Study ◽  
Avoidance Task ◽  
Implicit Measure ◽  
Social Avoidance ◽  
Social Approach ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Emotional Faces ◽  
Testosterone Administration ◽  
Threat Avoidance ◽  
Action Tendencies

Persistent fear and avoidance in patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) has been associated with reduced testosterone levels. Because threat avoidance is a major maintaining factor in SAD, and because testosterone administration promotes social approach, we tested whether testosterone administration can directly facilitate threat approach behavior in SAD. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 17 female participants with SAD received a single dose of testosterone before performing a well-established social Approach-Avoidance Task. This objective implicit measure of social motivational action tendencies requires participants to approach or avoid visually presented emotional faces. After testosterone administration, the patients showed increased approach tendencies to angry facial expressions. These results suggest that testosterone can counteract persistent automatic social avoidance tendencies in SAD. This finding advances our understanding of steroid involvement in the regulation of social motivational action in general and in SAD in particular, and may have important clinical implications, promoting testosterone’s candidacy for pharmacological treatment-enhancement studies.

scholarly journals Does testosterone affect emotional perception after social approach-avoidance?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sina Radke ◽  
Inge Volman ◽  
Pranjal Mehta ◽  
Veerle van Son ◽  
Dorien Enter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Avoidance Task ◽  
Threat Detection ◽  
Social Approach ◽  
Approach And Avoidance ◽  
Amygdala Activation ◽  
Emotional Perception ◽  
The Social ◽  
Testosterone Administration ◽  
Approach Avoidance ◽  
Threat Avoidance

Testosterone may promote approach-related behaviors by modulating sensitivity to social threat. In humans, testosterone increases amygdala activation to angry facial expressions, specifically when threat approach is required. As both increased and decreased threat detection after testosterone administration have been reported, we aim to contribute to the discussion by sharing additional results, i.e., perception ratings, from our previously published findings. Here, a single dose of 0.5 mg of testosterone increased amygdala activation during threat approach, and decreased it during threat avoidance. After the MRI session, about 5 hours post-administration, participants rated their emotional perception of the faces to which they had made approach and avoidance actions in the social approach-avoidance task.

Recent developments in the psychopharmacology of social phobia

1993 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 76-82
Author(s):  
Den J.A. Boer ◽  
I.M. Van Vliet ◽  
H.G.M. Westenberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Social Phobia ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Beta Blockers ◽  
Controlled Study ◽  
Social Avoidance ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Serotonergic Drugs

SummaryThe last two decades have witnessed an upsurge in the interest in anxiety disorders. Much research effort has been dedicated to panic disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. However, it is only very recently that we have begun to understand some of the basic principles about the psychopharmacology of social phobia. Drug classes so far studied include beta-blockers, non-selective and irreversible MAO-inhibitors (MAOI's) and benzodiazepinen. Beta-blockers appear to be of use in specific social phobias, like public speaking. There is considerable evidence suggesting that MAOI's are effective in reducing both social anxiety as well as social avoidance. A disadvantage of the conventional irreversible MAOI's is their risk for hypertensive crises when combined with dietary tyramine.So far only a small number of studies with selective MAOI-A inhibitors such as moclobemide and brofaromine have been conducted in social phobia, and the results indicate that both compounds are effective.Drugs exerting selective and specific actions on certain components of e.g. the serotonergic system can now be studied and it is hoped that the role of serotonin and other neuronal systems in social phobia can be elucidated.In order to gain more information about selective serotonergic drugs the first double blind placebo-controlled study with fluvoxamine in social phobia is here reported. Preliminary results indicate a reduction of social anxiety.Finally the role of peptides in the treatment of social phobia is critically reviewed. The MSH/ACTH analog Org 2766 was investigated in patients suffering from social phobia. No anxiolytic effects of this peptide could be observed.

884: Phase I, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study in Healthy Male Subjects to Investigate the Safety, Tolerability, and Pharmacokinetics of DA-8159

2004 ◽  
Vol 171 (4S) ◽  
pp. 234-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harin Padma-Nathan ◽  
Jae Seung Pacik ◽  
Byoung Ok Ahn ◽  
Kyung Koo Kang ◽  
Mi Young Bahng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phase I ◽  
Controlled Study ◽  
Healthy Male ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Double Blind Placebo ◽  
Male Subjects

Social Motives Predict Loneliness During a Developmental Transition

2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 145-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Nikitin ◽  
Alexandra M. Freund
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Avoidance ◽  
Social Approach ◽  
Social Motives ◽  
Developmental Transitions ◽  
Avoidance Motivation ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Low Levels

Abstract. Establishing new social relationships is important for mastering developmental transitions in young adulthood. In a 2-year longitudinal study with four measurement occasions (T1: n = 245, T2: n = 96, T3: n = 103, T4: n = 85), we investigated the role of social motives in college students’ mastery of the transition of moving out of the parental home, using loneliness as an indicator of poor adjustment to the transition. Students with strong social approach motivation reported stable and low levels of loneliness. In contrast, students with strong social avoidance motivation reported high levels of loneliness. However, this effect dissipated relatively quickly as most of the young adults adapted to the transition over a period of several weeks. The present study also provides evidence for an interaction between social approach and social avoidance motives: Social approach motives buffered the negative effect on social well-being of social avoidance motives. These results illustrate the importance of social approach and social avoidance motives and their interplay during developmental transitions.

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