scholarly journals Look at the Audience? A Randomized Controlled Study of Shifting Attention From Self-Focus to Nonsocial vs. Social External Stimuli During Virtual Reality Exposure to Public Speaking in Social Anxiety

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa F. Wechsler ◽  
Michael Pfaller ◽  
Rahel E. van Eickels ◽  
Luise H. Schulz ◽  
Andreas Mühlberger
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Public Speaking ◽  
Controlled Study ◽  
Attention Training ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Significant Time ◽  
External Focus ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
The Social

Background: Enhanced self-focused attention plays a central role in the maintenance and treatment of Social Anxiety and is targeted in contemporary cognitive behavioral therapy. Actual developments use Virtual Reality (VR) for behavioral training. However, no VR attention training combining exposure to public speaking with shifting attention from self-focus to external focus has been investigated, and no experimental evidence exists on different kinds of external cues as targets of attention. Therefore, we investigated the effects of an attention training during public speaking in VR and examined differential effects of an external focus on nonsocial vs. social stimuli.Methods: In this randomized controlled study, highly socially anxious participants were instructed to focus on either objects or the audience within a virtual speech task. We assessed the pre-post effects on affective reactions, self-perception, and attentional processes during public speaking as well as general Social Anxiety using subjective, physiological, and eye-tracking measures. Repeated-measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were calculated to detect changes from pretest to posttest over both groups, and time × group interaction effects.Results: Within the analysis sample (n = 41), anxiety during public speaking and fear of negative evaluation significantly decreased, with no significant differences between groups. No significant time effect, but a significant time × group effect, was found for the looking time proportion on the audience members' heads. Follow-up tests confirmed a significant increase in the social-focus group and a significant decrease in the nonsocial-focus group. For all other variables, except external focus and fear of public speaking, significant improvements were found over both groups. Further significant time x group effects were found for positive affect during public speaking, with a significant increase in the social focus, and no significant change in the nonsocial-focus group.Conclusion: Our findings suggest that attention training to reduce self-focus can be successfully conducted in VR. Both training versions showed positive short-term effects in the highly socially anxious, with particular advantages of an external social focus concerning eye contact to the audience and positive affect. Further research should investigate whether social focus is even more advantageous long term and if reinterpretations of dysfunctional beliefs could be achieved by not avoiding social cues.

scholarly journals Screening Social Anxiety in Adolescents Through the Eyes of Their Carers

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis-Joaquin Garcia-Lopez ◽  
Lourdes Espinosa-Fernandez ◽  
Jose-Antonio Muela-Martinez ◽  
Jose Antonio Piqueras
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Study Objective ◽  
Validity Data ◽  
Efficacious Treatment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Strength Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Different Cultures

Despite the availability of efficacious treatment and screening protocols, social anxiety disorder (SAD) in adolescents is considerably under-detected and undertreated. Our main study objective was to examine a brief, valid, and reliable social anxiety measure already tested to serve as self-report child measure but administered via Internet aimed at listening to the ability of his or her parent to identify social anxiety symptomatology in his or her child. This parent version could be used as a complementary measure to avoid his or her overestimation of children of social anxiety symptomatology using traditional self-reported measures. We examined the psychometric properties of brief and valid social anxiety measure in their parent format and administered via the Internet. The sample included 179 parents/legal guardians of adolescents (67% girls) with a clinical diagnosis of SAD (mean age: 14.27; SD = 1.33). Findings revealed good factor structure, internal consistency, and construct validity. Data support a single, strength-based factor on the SPAIB-P, being structure largely invariant across age and gender. The limited number of adolescents with a performance-only specifier prevented examining the utility of scale to screen for this recently established specifier. It is crucial to evaluate if these results generalize to different cultures and community samples. The findings suggest that the SPAIB-P evidences performance comparable with child-reported measure. Parents can be reliable reports of the social anxiety symptomatology of the adolescent. The SPAIB-P may be useful for identifying clinically disturbed socially anxious adolescents.

scholarly journals A disorder-specific group cognitive behavior therapy for social anxiety disorder in adolescents: study protocol for a randomized controlled study

Trials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nanna Fensman Lassen ◽  
Esben Hougaard ◽  
Kristian Bech Arendt ◽  
Mikael Thastum
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Social Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Behavior Therapy ◽  
Cognitive Behavior Therapy ◽  
Controlled Study ◽  
Cognitive Behavior ◽  
Specific Group ◽  
Randomized Controlled

Abstract Background Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a common disorder in adolescence associated with extensive distress and long-term impairment. Generic cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) programs for anxiety disorders have shown poorer outcomes for adolescents with SAD than for other anxiety disorders. Aim The aim of the present study is to investigate the efficacy of a disorder-specific group cognitive behavior therapy (G-CBT) program for youth SAD, the Cool Kids Anxiety Program - Social Enhanced (CK-E), developed at Macquarie University, Sidney, Australia. Methods The study is a randomized controlled trial comparing CK-E to a generic G-CBT program for anxiety disorders. Approximately 96 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years are included with data points at pre- and post-treatment, and at 3 months and 1 year follow-ups. Discussion The current study will provide more information about the efficacy of diagnosis-specific G-CBT treatment for youth SAD. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03986827. Registered on 14 June 2019.

scholarly journals Think, Pair, Freeze: The Association between Social Anxiety and Student Discomfort in the Active Learning Environment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven G. Buzinski ◽  
Emma Armstrong-Carter ◽  
Jenna Clark
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Course Performance ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
College Classrooms ◽  
Social Nature ◽  
The Social

Active learning instructional techniques, often characterized by paired or small group work (e.g., problem solving, discussion), are typically associated with improved student performance. Socially anxious students may, however, experience unique interpersonal and learning challenges due to the social nature of these techniques. Despite its prevalence among college students, little research has examined how social anxiety relates to students experience of active learning, and whether socially anxious students derive the same benefits from it. Across three studies conducted in college classrooms (combined N = 569), we found that many college students met clinical thresholds for social anxiety (30.1%, 58.9%, and 61.3%), social anxiety was positively associated with discomfort in the active learning environment (r = .52, β = .61, and β = .65), early course performance did not moderate the social anxiety and active learning discomfort relationship (β = -.01 and β = .11), and even after controlling for GPA, social anxiety and active learning discomfort interacted to predict final course grades (β = -.22). These studies add nuance to the active learning literature, and suggest the need for further research on how to best utilize these techniques for socially anxious students.

Everything Starts With Small Talk

2019 ◽  
pp. 191-204
Author(s):  
Debra A. Hope ◽  
Richard G. Heimberg ◽  
Cynthia L. Turk
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Public Speaking ◽  
Automatic Thoughts ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Small Talk ◽  
Significant Relationships ◽  
Primary Focus

Many individuals in treatment for social anxiety have some difficulty with casual conversations, even if it is not the primary focus of treatment. The chapter explores why it is important to be able to make casual conversation and then examines some of the automatic thoughts that socially anxious individuals often have in casual conversation and how to challenge those automatic thoughts. This chapter presents psychoeducational material about the importance of small talk in everyday life. Two primary messages from this material are (a) casual conversations are the gateways to more significant relationships and (b) such conversations are, by definition, about inconsequential topics. The chapter talks about two key types of situations in which many people experience social anxiety—conversations and public speaking.

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.

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