Dating With Social Anxiety: An Empirical Examination of Momentary Anxiety and Desire for Future Interaction

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya Asher ◽  
Idan M. Aderka
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Romantic Relationships ◽  
Social Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Small Talk ◽  
Interaction Partners ◽  
Opposite Sex

Individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) have substantial difficulties in romantic relationships. The aim of the present study was to examine initial, opposite-sex interactions of individuals with SAD and their interaction partners. Specifically, we investigated gender and social context (small talk vs. closeness-generating conversations) and their effects on momentary social anxiety during the interaction, as well as on participants’ desire for future interaction. Participants in this study ( N = 160) formed 42 experimental dyads, each comprising one individual with SAD and another non–socially anxious (NSA) individual, and 38 control dyads of two NSA individuals. We found that men with SAD benefitted significantly from closeness-generating interactions such that levels of momentary social anxiety were greatly reduced and both members of the dyad reported increased desire for future interaction. This effect was not found in small-talk conversations and not found for women with SAD. Implications for psychopathology and treatment are discussed.

Out of Sync: Nonverbal Synchrony in Social Anxiety Disorder

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 280-294
Author(s):  
Maya Asher ◽  
Amitay Kauffmann ◽  
Idan M. Aderka
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Social Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Negative Association ◽  
Objective Measures ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Small Talk ◽  
Opposite Sex ◽  
Nonverbal Synchrony

We examined nonverbal synchrony during opposite-sex interactions of individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD). Participants were 156 individuals: 38 diagnosed with SAD and 118 individuals who were not socially anxious (NSA). Participants formed 78 dyads of either 2 NSA individuals (control dyads; n = 40) or 1 individual with SAD and 1 NSA individual (SAD dyads; n = 38). Dyads were randomly assigned to either a closeness-generating conversation or a small-talk conversation, and nonverbal synchrony was derived from computer analysis of videos. We found that for control dyads, closeness-generating conversations led to increased nonverbal synchrony compared with small-talk conversations but did not find the same outcome in SAD dyads. We also found a positive association between social anxiety and nonverbal synchrony in small-talk conversations but a negative association in closeness-generating conversations. Thus, we found evidence for impaired nonverbal synchrony in SAD using objective measures. Implications for psychopathology and treatment are discussed.

A European perspective on social anxiety disorder

2000 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Lecrubier ◽  
H.U. Wittchen ◽  
C. Faravelli ◽  
J. Bobes ◽  
A. Patel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Risk Factor ◽  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Romantic Relationships ◽  
Social Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Work Productivity ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
European Perspective ◽  
High Level

SummaryEpidemiologic surveys conducted across Europe indicate that the lifetime prevalence of social anxiety disorder in the general population is close to 7%. The disorder in adulthood rarely presents in its ‘pure’ form and 70–80% of patients have at least one other psychiatric disorder, most commonly depression. Social anxiety disorder is a risk factor for the development of depression and alcohol/substance use or dependence, especially in cases with an early onset (< 15 years). Individuals with social anxiety disorder have significant functional impairment, notably in the areas of initiation and maintenance of social/romantic relationships and educational and work achievement. The economic consequences of social anxiety disorder are considerable, with a high level of diminished work productivity, unemployment and an increased utilisation of medical services amongst sufferers. Effective treatment of social anxiety disorder would improve its course and its health and economic consequences.

scholarly journals Neuroendocrine models of social anxiety disorder

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-293 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Social Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Peptide Hormones ◽  
Social Avoidance ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Submissive Behavior ◽  
Early Trauma ◽  
Developmental Windows

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a highly prevalent and disabling disorder with key behavioral traits of social fearfulness, social avoidance, and submissiveness. Here we argue that hormonal systems play a key role in mediating social anxiety, and so may be important in SAD. Hormonal alterations, often established early in development through the interaction between biological and psychological factors (eg, genetic predisposition x early trauma), predispose to socially fearful, avoidant, and submissive behavior. However, whereas gene variants and histories of trauma persist, hormonal systems can be remodeled over the course of life. Hormones play a key role during the periods of all sensitive developmental windows (ie, prenatal, neonatal, puberty, aging), and are capable of opening up new developmental windows in adulthood. Indeed, the developmental plasticity of our social brain, and thus of social behavior in adulthood, critically depends on steroid hormones such as testosterone and peptide hormones such as oxytocin. These steroid and peptide hormones in interaction with social experiences may have potential for reprogramming the socially anxious brain. Certainly, single administrations of oxytocin and testosterone in humans reduce socially fearful, avoidant, and submissive behavior. Such work may ultimately lead to new approaches to the treatment of SAD.

scholarly journals A Novel Attention Bias Modification Single Session Training Improves Eye Gaze Behaviour in Social Anxiety Disorder: A Pilot Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-27
Author(s):  
Louise F. Carey ◽  
Giles M. Anderson ◽  
Sanjay Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Attentional Bias ◽  
Social Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Attention Bias ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Attention Bias Modification ◽  
Attentional Deployment ◽  
Gaze Behaviour ◽  
Bias Modification

AbstractBackgroundAttention bias modification (ABM) can reduce anxiety and attentional bias towards threatening stimuli, but evidence of its usefulness as a potential intervention for socially anxious individuals has been mixed. Eye contact avoidance, a maladaptive attentional strategy in social anxiety disorder (SAD), has yet to be targeted by ABM research.AimsThis study sought to establish whether a new ABM training paradigm could increase attentional deployment towards eyes and what effect this would have on social and gaze-related anxiety.MethodParticipants (n = 23) recruited through adverts calling for people who felt anxious in social situations completed either a novel ABM training task designed to induce attentional bias towards images of eyes over images of noses, or control training. Data on response times (RTs), accuracy of responses, gaze behaviour (using an eye tracker) and scores on clinical measures of social and gaze-related anxiety were collected before and after both training tasks.ResultsABM training produced a greater number of initial saccades towards eye images than did the control task, indicating an induced shift in early attentional deployment. ABM training was also associated with a marginal increase in fixation durations on eye images. No effect was observed on RTs or social and gaze-related anxiety.ConclusionsOur results indicate that ABM can alter the gaze behaviour of socially anxious individuals. They also highlight the importance of eye tracking to ABM research, because it was more sensitive than analyses of RTs to changes in early attentional deployment.

Examining Facets of Depression and Social Anxiety: The Relation among Lack of Positive Affect, Negative Cognitions, and Emotion Dysregulation

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Blanco ◽  
Jutta Joormann
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Social Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Emotion Dysregulation ◽  
Negative Cognitions ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Anxiety Group ◽  
The Social

AbstractDepression and Social Anxiety Disorder are commonly conceptualized by the presence of negative affect. However, these disorders are also characterized by lack of positive affect, presence of negative cognitions, and emotion dysregulation which may play an important role in the onset and maintenance of these disorders. The present study explored differences among these variables in 189 clinical patients diagnosed with Major Depression, Social Anxiety Disorder, or both. Results showed differences in lack of positivity F(2, 185) = 18.92, p = .0001, η2 = .17, presence of negative cognitions F(2, 185) = 13.97, p = .0001, η2 = .13, and the use of rumination F(2, 185) = 14.63, p = .0001, η2 = .14 and punishment F(2, 181) = 7.64, p = .001, η2 = .08 among groups. Overall, lack of positivity, negative cognitions, and emotion dysregulation were elevated in the comorbid group, whereas lack of positivity and negative cognitions were specifically found for patients diagnosed with depression compared to socially anxious patients. In addition, the study examined the relation of both, lack of positivity and negative cognitions, to emotion regulation processes among groups. Overall, lack of positivity was associated with fear and avoidance in the social anxiety group (all r > .417, p < .01), whereas lack of positivity and negative cognitions were associated with rumination across the three groups (all r > .370, p < .01). Limitations of the present study and future directions are discussed.

scholarly journals Repetitive Negative Thinking in Social Anxiety Disorder 1: Anticipatory Processing

2017 ◽  
Vol a4 (3) ◽  
pp. 244-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel A. Sluis ◽  
Mark J. Boschen ◽  
David L. Neumann ◽  
Karen Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Social Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Repetitive Negative Thinking ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Negative Thinking ◽  
Anticipatory Processing

Cognitive models of social anxiety disorder (SAD) emphasize anticipatory processing as a prominent maintaining factor that occurs before social-evaluative events. Anticipatory processing occurs when a socially anxious individual is expecting a social event and can be described as a mode of repetitive negative thinking dominated by past failures, negative images of oneself, predictions of poor performance and rejection. The present review examined the literature on anticipatory processing in social anxiety in an effort to highlight important findings pertaining to this construct. Correlational and experimental studies have investigated the relationship between anticipatory processing and the behavioural, physiological, cognitive and affective outcomes for socially anxious individuals. Studies investigating the characteristics, causes, and consequences of anticipatory processing according to models of social anxiety were included for review. The majority of study designs include those investigating anticipatory processing prior to social-evaluative threat. Directions for future research are discussed and an overview of a framework for explaining anticipatory processing biases in social anxiety is presented.

scholarly journals Social anxiety disorder in first-episode psychosis: incidence, phenomenology and relationship with paranoia

2009 ◽  
Vol 195 (3) ◽  
pp. 234-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Michail ◽  
Max Birchwood
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Social Anxiety Disorder ◽  
First Episode Psychosis ◽  
Psychotic Symptoms ◽  
First Episode ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Causal Pathway ◽  
Episode Psychosis ◽  
Icd 10

BackgroundSocial anxiety disorder constitutes a significant problem for people with psychosis. It is unclear whether this is a by-product of persecutory thinking.AimsTo compare the phenomenology of social anxiety disorder in first-episode psychosis with that in a group without psychosis. The relationship between social anxiety and psychosis symptoms was investigated.MethodA sample of people with first-episode psychosis (FEP group) was compared with a sample with social anxiety disorder without psychosis (SaD group).ResultsOf the individuals in the FEP group (n = 80) 25% were diagnosed with an ICD–10 social anxiety disorder (FEP/SaD group); a further 11.6% reported severe difficulties in social encounters. The FEP/SaD and SaD groups reported comparable levels of social anxiety, autonomic symptoms, avoidance and depression. Social anxiety in psychosis was not related to the positive symptoms of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) including suspiciousness/persecution. However, a significantly greater percentage of socially anxious v. non-socially anxious individuals with psychosis expressed perceived threat from persecutors, although this did not affect the severity of social anxiety within the FEP/SaD group. The majority of those in the FEP/SaD group did not have concurrent persecutory delusions.ConclusionsSocial anxiety is a significant comorbidity in first-episode psychosis. It is not simply an epiphenomenon of psychotic symptoms and clinical paranoia, and it has more than one causal pathway. For a subgroup of socially anxious people with psychosis, anticipated harm is present and the processes that underlie its relationship with social anxiety warrant further investigation.

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