The impact of metacognitive beliefs and anticipatory processing on state anxiety in high socially anxious individuals in a speech task

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 588-600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Styliani Gkika ◽  
Adrian Wells
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Emotional Disorders ◽  
State Anxiety ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Negative Beliefs ◽  
Anticipatory Processing ◽  
Metacognitive Beliefs ◽  
Perseverative Thinking ◽  
The Impact

The metacognitive model (Wells & Matthews, 1994) proposes that metacognitions (e.g., positive or negative beliefs about worry and thoughts) are involved in emotional disorders alongside perseverative thinking, such as worry. In social anxiety, worry about forthcoming social situations, termed anticipatory processing (AP), is considered an important maintaining factor (Clark & Wells, 1995), but a role of metacognition is less clear. This study investigated AP and metacognition in 80 high socially anxious individuals asked to engage in either AP or a filler task before delivering a speech. AP and higher uncontrollability/danger metacognitive beliefs were associated with greater state anxiety overall. Individuals with higher positive beliefs about worry experienced less of an increase in anxiety before the speech, but their anxiety persisted until after the speech, compared to individuals with lower beliefs. The results support an effect of metacognitions and are discussed in terms of the social anxiety model and its implications.

Do Socially Anxious Individuals Hold Positive Metacognitive Beliefs About Rumination?

2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quincy J.J. Wong ◽  
Michelle L. Moulds
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Emotional Disorders ◽  
The Self ◽  
Thought Processes ◽  
Composite Measure ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Repetitive Thought ◽  
Metacognitive Beliefs ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe Self-Regulatory Executive Function (S-REF) model of affective dysfunction (Wells & Matthews, 1994) suggests that metacognitive beliefs are important for initiating and maintaining repetitive thought processes in emotional disorders. Rumination is reported by socially anxious individuals, yet it is not known whether this group endorse positive beliefs about the utility of rumination. We predicted that higher levels of social anxiety would be positively associated with stronger positive metacognitive beliefs about rumination. In Study 1 (N= 250 undergraduates), a measure of social anxiety was positively correlated with a measure of positive metacognitive beliefs about rumination, even when controlling for gender and level of depression. Given this result, we then attempted to replicate the finding in another sample, as well as test whether positive metacognitive beliefs about rumination would mediate the relationship between social anxiety and trait rumination. In Study 2 (N= 124 undergraduates), a social anxiety composite measure was positively correlated with a measure of positive metacognitive beliefs about rumination, even when controlling for gender, level of depression and level of rumination. Positive metacognitive beliefs about rumination were also shown to partially mediate the relationship between social anxiety and trait rumination. These results support the S-REF model and provide a potential account of why socially anxious individuals engage in rumination. Implications for the treatment of social anxiety are discussed.

The Potential of Video Game Streaming as Exposure Therapy for Social Anxiety

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (CHI PLAY) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Julian Frommel ◽  
Martin J. Dechant ◽  
Regan L. Mandryk
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Exposure Therapy ◽  
Cognitive Restructuring ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Controlled Exposure ◽  
Anxiety Treatment ◽  
Social Anxieties ◽  
And Performance

Social anxiety is a prevalent problem that affects many people with varying severity; digital exposure therapy-which involves controlled exposure to simulations of feared social situations alongside cognitive restructuring-can help treat patients with anxieties. However, the need to personalize exposure scenarios and simulate audiences are barriers to treating social anxieties through digital exposure. In this paper, we propose game streaming as an exposure therapy paradigm for social anxiety, supporting it with data from two studies. We first propose a framework describing requirements for exposure therapy and how game streaming can fulfill them. We select demand and performance visibility from these characteristics to showcase how to manipulate them for experiences of gradual exposure. With Study 1, we provide evidence for these characteristics and support for the framework by showing that a game's demand affected expected fear of streaming games. In Study 2, we show that the prospect of streaming led to elevated fear, a necessary property for effective exposure therapy. Further, we show that the effect of streaming on expected fear was similar for participants who can be considered socially anxious. These findings provide evidence for the essential effect of exposure therapy, which serves as a first step towards the validation of streaming as a social anxiety treatment. Our paper provides an initial, important step towards a novel, broadly applicable, and widely accessible digital approach for the treatment of social anxiety.

The impact of alcohol use disorders and alcohol consumption on treatment-seeking individuals with social anxiety disorder

2021 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-122
Author(s):  
Mirjana Subotic-Kerry ◽  
Andrew J. Baillie ◽  
Lexine A. Stapinski ◽  
Maree J. Abbott ◽  
Jo MacDonald ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Social Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Alcohol Use Disorders ◽  
Anxiety Symptoms ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Low Incidence ◽  
The Impact

Comorbid social anxiety and alcohol use disorders (SAD-AUD) in the community and the complex interactions that occur between these disorders have emerged as a significant clinical, public health, and research issue. The authors examined (a) the rates of comorbid SAD-AUD, (b) the impact of comorbid SAD-AUD on outcomes targeting social anxiety disorder, and (c) the effect of pretreatment alcohol consumption and alcohol use before, during, and after social situations on a composite measure of social anxiety in 172 adults presenting with social anxiety disorder. There was low incidence of AUD in this sample of individuals with SAD. Results indicated that alcohol consumption did not lead to worse social anxiety symptoms; however, alcohol use before and during social situations was associated with more severe social anxiety symptoms. These findings suggest that the function of alcohol use may be more important than the overall level of alcohol use and has implications for treatment.

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.

Assessing Social Anxiety: The Inventory of Interpersonal Situations (IIS)

1999 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rien van Dam-Baggen ◽  
Floris Kraaimaat
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Overt Behavior ◽  
Frequency Scale ◽  
Significant Relationships ◽  
High Internal Consistency ◽  
Interpersonal Situations

Summary: The purpose of this study was to develop a self-report questionnaire for the assessment of social anxiety in adults. The Inventory of Interpersonal Situations (IIS) consists of 35 items formulated as responses to specific social situations. The IIS is based on an interactive concept of social anxiety and provides scores for both a Discomfort and a Frequency scale. The reliability and validity of the IIS were investigated in several adult psychiatric and nonpsychiatric samples. The scales for Discomfort and Frequency showed stability over time. Cronbach's α's revealed a sufficiently high internal consistency on both scales, while the conceptual structure was shown to be rather invariant across socially anxious and nonsocially anxious groups. The IIS scales were able to discriminate between socially anxious and nonsocially anxious samples, and showed significant relationships with independent measures of social anxiety. The IIS scales demonstrated high predictive validity for overt behavior in social situations.

Can I Really Do This? An Examination of Anticipatory Event Processing in Social Anxiety Disorder

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith M. Laposa ◽  
Neil A. Rector
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Social Anxiety Disorder ◽  
State Anxiety ◽  
Behavioral Therapy ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
Anxiety State ◽  
Event Processing ◽  
Social Events ◽  
Anticipatory Processing

Clark and Wells (1995) posit that anticipatory processing before a social situation serves to maintain social anxiety. More specifically, ruminative processes similar to post-event processing (PEP) may occur in anticipation of anxiety provoking social events, and in this article, we have labelled this type of anticipatory rumination anticipatory event processing (AnEP). Participants (n = 75) with social anxiety disorder (SAD) completed measures of anticipatory event processing, trait anxious rumination, social anxiety, state anxiety, and PEP, in the context of completing videotaped exposures twice as part of manual-based group cognitive behavioral therapy. AnEP was significantly positively associated with trait anxious rumination and social anxiety and was associated with state anxiety during the first videotaping. AnEP at the two time points was significantly correlated and decreased across the two taped exposures. Greater AnEP at the first taping was associated with greater PEP the following week. PEP after the first videotaped exposure then significantly related to AnEP for the second videotaped exposure several weeks later. Discussion focuses on the similarities between PEP and AnEP as well as implications for cognitive models and treatment of SAD.

scholarly journals Self-Focused Cognition in Social Anxiety: A Review of the Theoretical and Empirical Literature

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice R. Norton ◽  
Maree J. Abbott
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Similar Process ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Substantial Body ◽  
Growing Body

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is characterised by a marked and persistent fear of social or performance situations. Cognitive models suggest that self-focused cognitive processes play a crucial role in generating and maintaining social anxiety, and that self-focused cognition occurs prior to, during, and following social situations (Clark & Wells, 1995; Rapee & Heimberg, 1997). There is a substantial body of empirical evidence demonstrating that socially anxious individuals engage in self-focused cognition during and following a social or performance situation. A smaller but growing body literature suggests that a similar process occurs prior to such situations, and that these three processes are interdependent. Furthermore, the vast majority of research to date indicates that self-focused cognitive processes are detrimental, and that they generate and maintain social anxiety in a variety of ways. However, there remains considerable scope for research to further explicate the role of these processes in the maintenance of SAD, and to enhance interventions designed to ameliorate their negative effects.

scholarly journals The efficacy of cognitive restructuring and mindfulness strategies in reducing post-event processing among socially anxious individuals

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bethany A. Gee
Keyword(s):  
State Anxiety ◽  
Cognitive Restructuring ◽  
Single Session ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Negative Thoughts ◽  
Postevent Processing ◽  
Maladaptive Beliefs ◽  
Reduced State

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is defined as a marked and persistent fear of social situations in which an individual is exposed to potential scrutiny from others (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Prominent models of SAD (Clark & Wells, 1995 ; Rapee & Heimberg, 1997) postulate that postevent processing (PEP), which involves reviewing a past social event in detail (typically in a negative way), serves as a key maintenance factor of SAD. The current study examined the efficacy of a single session cognitive restructuring or mindfulness strategy on decreasing PEP and its associated effects, and also investigated the cognitive processes involved. Seventy-four socially anxious participants completed a speech task to elicit PEP, were taught a cognitive restructuring, mindfulness, or control strategy to manage their negative thoughts related to the speech, and completed several questionnaires. Participants in the cognitive restructuring condition reported decreased PEP (degree and associated distress) and improved affect (but not reduced state anxiety), as compared to the control condition. Participants in the mindfulness condition also reported decrease PEP (degree but no associate distress) and improved affect (including reduced state anxiety), as compared to the control condition. No significant differences were found between the cognitive restructuring and mindfulness conditions. Participants in the cognitive restructuring condition also reported decreased beliefs about the perceived costs of negative social situations. Regardless of study condition, decreases in cost biases and maladaptive beliefs sign significantly predicted reductions in PEP. Thus, cognitive restructuring and mindfulness appear to be promising strategies to decrease PEP and its associated negative effects.

scholarly journals The efficacy of cognitive restructuring and mindfulness strategies in reducing postevent processing among socially anxious individuals.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bethany A. Gee
Keyword(s):  
State Anxiety ◽  
Cognitive Restructuring ◽  
Single Session ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Negative Thoughts ◽  
Postevent Processing ◽  
Maladaptive Beliefs ◽  
Reduced State

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is defined as a marked and persistent fear of social situations in which an individual is exposed to potential scrutiny from others (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Prominent models of SAD (Clark & Wells, 1995; Rapee & Heimberg, 1997) postulate that postevent processing (PEP), which involves reviewing a past social event in detail (typically in a negative way), serves as a key maintenance factor of SAD. The current study examined the efficacy of a single session cognitive restructuring or mindfulness strategy on decreasing PEP and its associated effects, and also investigated the cognitive processes involved. Seventy-four socially anxious participants completed a speech task to elicit PEP, were taught a cognitive restructuring, mindfulness, or control strategy to manage their negative thoughts related to the speech, and completed several questionnaires. Participants in the cognitive restructuring condition reported decreased PEP (degree and associated distress) and improved affect (but not reduced state anxiety), as compared to the control condition. Participants in the mindfulness condition also reported decreased PEP (degree but not associated distress) and improved affect (including reduced state anxiety), as compared to the control condition. No significant differences were found between the cognitive restructuring and mindfulness conditions. Participants in the cognitive restructuring condition also reported decreased beliefs about the perceived costs of negative social situations. Regardless of study condition, decreases in cost biases and maladaptive beliefs significantly predicted reductions in PEP. Thus, cognitive restructuring and mindfulness appear to be promising strategies to decrease PEP and its associated negative effects.

Interpretations for Safety Behaviours in High and Low Socially Anxious Individuals

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanos P. Vassilopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Normal Level ◽  
Psychological Problem ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Emotional Condition

Background: It has been suggested that socially anxious individuals often engage in a wide range of safety behaviours in social situations that are intended to reduce the risk of social failure and humiliation. Method: This study explored the interpretations that people make for behaviours considered to be safety seeking. High and low socially anxious individuals completed one version of a questionnaire that assessed how the safety behaviours that they may exhibit are interpreted by others, and then completed a second version of the same questionnaire that assessed how they typically interpret safety behaviours in other people. Participants rated the extent to which each of eight interpretations was viewed as a likely interpretation of the behaviour. Results: Individuals high in social anxiety were more likely than low socially anxious participants to think that being arrogant, suffering from a psychological problem, or experiencing a normal level of anxiety, nervousness or fear are likely explanations for safety behaviours, regardless of who exhibits them. Additionally, high socially anxious participants were more likely than those low in social anxiety to think that others interpreted these behaviours as being indicative of intense anxiety or other negative emotional condition. Conclusions: The results suggested that socially anxious people are, at least, aware of the negative effects of certain behaviours characterized as safety seeking.

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