scholarly journals A Two-Person Neuroscience Approach for Social Anxiety: A Paradigm With Interbrain Synchrony and Neurofeedback

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcia A. Saul ◽  
Xun He ◽  
Stuart Black ◽  
Fred Charles

Social anxiety disorder has been widely recognised as one of the most commonly diagnosed mental disorders. Individuals with social anxiety disorder experience difficulties during social interactions that are essential in the regular functioning of daily routines; perpetually motivating research into the aetiology, maintenance and treatment methods. Traditionally, social and clinical neuroscience studies incorporated protocols testing one participant at a time. However, it has been recently suggested that such protocols are unable to directly assess social interaction performance, which can be revealed by testing multiple individuals simultaneously. The principle of two-person neuroscience highlights the interpersonal aspect of social interactions that observes behaviour and brain activity from both (or all) constituents of the interaction, rather than analysing on an individual level or an individual observation of a social situation. Therefore, two-person neuroscience could be a promising direction for assessment and intervention of the social anxiety disorder. In this paper, we propose a novel paradigm which integrates two-person neuroscience in a neurofeedback protocol. Neurofeedback and interbrain synchrony, a branch of two-person neuroscience, are discussed in their own capacities for their relationship with social anxiety disorder and relevance to the paradigm. The newly proposed paradigm sets out to assess the social interaction performance using interbrain synchrony between interacting individuals, and to employ a multi-user neurofeedback protocol for intervention of the social anxiety.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andras N. Zsido ◽  
Brigitta Varadi-Borbas ◽  
Nikolett Arato

Abstract Background Although social anxiety disorder is one of the most frequent disorders, it often remained unrecognized. Utilizing brief, yet reliable screening tools, such as the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS-6) and the Social Phobia Scale (SPS-6) are helping to solve this problem in parts of Western Europe and the US. Still some countries, like Hungary, lag behind. For this purpose, previous studies call for further evidence on the applicability of the scales in various populations and cultures, as well as the elaborative validity of the short forms. Here, we aimed to provide a thorough analysis of the scales in five studies. We employed item response theory (IRT) to explore the psychometric properties of the SIAS-6 and the SPS-6 in Hungarian adults (n = 3213, age range:19–80) and adolescents (n = 292, age range:14–18). Results In both samples, IRT analyses demonstrated that the items of SIAS-6 and SPS-6 had high discriminative power and cover a wide range of the latent trait. Using various subsamples, we showed that (1) the scales had excellent convergent and divergent validity in relation to domains of anxiety, depression, and cognitive emotion regulation in both samples. Further, that (2) the scales discriminated those with a history of fainting or avoidance from those without such history. Lastly, (3) the questionnaires can discriminate people diagnosed with social anxiety disorder (n = 30, age range:13–71) and controls. Conclusions These findings suggest that the questionnaires are suitable for screening for SAD in adults and adolescents. Although the confirmation of the two-factor structure may be indicative of the validity of the “performance only” specifier of SAD in DSM-V, the high correlation between the factors and the similar patter of convergent validity might indicate that it is not a discrete entity but rather a part of SAD; and that SAD is latently continuous.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-58
Author(s):  
Umberto Granziol ◽  
◽  
Gioia Bottesi ◽  
Francesca Serra ◽  
Andrea Spoto ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. Richey ◽  
Merage Ghane ◽  
Andrew Valdespino ◽  
Marika C. Coffman ◽  
Marlene V. Strege ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-32
Author(s):  
T.V. Avakyan ◽  
S.V. Volikova ◽  
M.G. Sorokova

The influence of a specific social development situation on the operational and motivational components of social cognition in orphan adolescents investigated. The theoretical basis of the study was the provisions of the "social situation of development" L.S. Vygotsky, theories of attachment by J. Bowlby, the multifactor model of social cognition A.B. Kholmogorova, O.V. Rychkova. 68 orphans aged from 10 to 17 years old living in the orphanage examined. It shown that orphaned teenagers with an insecure type of attachment have more difficulty in understanding their own feelings, regardless of the length of their stay in the institution. Orphans living in institutions for more than 5 years have a higher level of social anxiety and distress during social interaction.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn Piccirillo ◽  
Thomas Rodebaugh

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) constitutes an important risk factor for major depressive disorder (MDD) and women are at greater risk for both disorders and their comorbidity. Despite much research examining risk factors for MDD specifically, there is limited research evaluating how individuals with SAD transition into depressive episodes. Clinical and theoretical evidence suggests that each individual may exhibit a unique personalized pattern of risk factors. These idiographic patterns may contradict group-level findings. In this study, women (N = 35) with SAD and a current or past major depressive episode completed ecological sampling of their mood and emotional experience five times a day for a month via a smartphone application. These data were analyzed using idiographic analyses to construct individual-level models of each woman’s mood. A multilevel model was constructed to determine risk factors for group-level intra-daily sadness (i.e., depressed mood). Some group-level relationships were consistent with previous research; however, most women’s models demonstrated few, and differing, risk factors for intra-daily sadness. We also examined the spread of individual-level estimates taken from group and idiographic models to determine the extent to which multilevel models can estimate individual-level effects. Implications for integrating results from idiographic methodology into existing theoretical models of psychopathology and clinical practice are discussed.


2008 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah A. Hayes ◽  
Nathan A. Miller ◽  
Debra A. Hope ◽  
Richard G. Heimberg ◽  
Harlan R. Juster

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