Disorders - Social phobia
Reiss, N., Warnecke,
I., Tolgou, T., Krampen, D., Luka-Krausgrill, U., Rohrmann, S.
Background: Test anxiety is a common
condition in students, which may lead to impaired academic performance as well as to distress. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate
the effectiveness of two cognitive-behavioral interventions designed to reduce test anxiety. Test anxiety in the participants was diagnosed as social
or specific phobia according to DSM-IV. Subsequently subjects were randomized to three groups: a moderated self-help group, which served as a control
group, and two treatment groups, where either relaxation techniques or imagery rescripting were applied. Methods: Students suffering from test
anxiety were recruited at two German universities (n = 180). The randomized controlled design comprised three groups which received test anxiety
treatment in weekly three-hour sessions over a period of five weeks. Treatment outcome was assessed with a test anxiety questionnaire, which was
administered before and after treatment, as well as in a six-month follow-up. Results: A repeated-measures ANOVA for participants with complete data
(n = 59) revealed a significant reduction of test anxiety from baseline to six-month follow-up in all three treatment groups (p < .001). Limitations:
Participants were included if they had a clinical diagnosis of test anxiety. The sample may therefore represent only more severe forms of text
anxiety . Moreover, the sample size in this study was small, the numbers of participants per group differed, and treatment results were based on
self-report. Due to the length of the treatment, an implementation of the group treatments used in this study might not be feasible in all settings.
Conclusions: Group treatments constitute an effective method of treating test anxiety, e.g. in university settings. Imagery rescripting may
particularly contribute to treatment efficacy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)
Journal of Affective Disorders, 208 : 483-
489
- Year: 2017
- Problem: Social phobia (social anxiety disorder), Specific
Phobia
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
-
Treatment and intervention: Complementary & Alternative
Interventions (CAM), Psychological Interventions
(any), Cognitive & behavioural therapies (CBT), Self-help, Relaxation
Renner, K. A., Valentiner, D. P., Holzman, J. B.
A clinical protocol based on
contemporary cognitive behavioral treatment for social anxiety was developed and examined. Previously published instructions for conducting a focus-
of-attention behavioral experiment targeting self-focused attention and safety behaviors during exposure were used to create a structured protocol.
Individuals (n = 45) with high levels of social anxiety and public-speaking anxiety were randomly assigned to either a focus-of-attention behavioral
experiment (FABE) or an Exposure-Only Control (EOC) condition. During four exposure trials, those in the FABE condition (n = 24) were alternately
instructed to engage in self-focused attention vs. externally focused attention and to eliminate safety behaviors. Those in the EOC condition (n =
21) were not so instructed. At post-intervention, individuals in the FABE condition showed significantly less self-focused attention and anxiety, and
better observed performance as rated by audience members. Focus-of-attention statistically mediated the effect of condition on anxiety. For those in
the FABE condition, the degree of association between focus-of-attention and anxiety during the intervention predicted less self-focused attention
post-intervention. The FABE appears to be a useful procedure for implementing part of the contemporary cognitive behavioral treatment model.
(PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Cognitive
Behaviour Therapy, 46(1) : 60-74
- Year: 2017
- Problem: Social phobia (social anxiety disorder)
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions
(any), Exposure therapy, Exposure
and response prevention, Other Psychological Interventions
Oldham-Cooper, R., Loades, M.
Background:
Coping Cat (CC), a generic cognitive-behavioral intervention for anxiety disorders in children and young people, is recommended in the United Kingdom
for social anxiety disorder (SAD), generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety (SA), and specific phobias (SP), with disorder-specific
approaches generally favored in treatment of anxiety disorders in adults. Objectives: To compare CC with disorder-specific cognitive-behavioral
therapy (CBT) interventions based on anxiety-related treatment outcomes. Study Selection: Primary research articles describing treatment of children
and young people aged 7-17 for SAD, generalized anxiety disorder, SA, and SP, using CC or disorder-specific CBT. Results: Ten studies implemented CC
and four implemented disorder-specific CBT. One study compared CC with a disorder-specific approach. There was a lack of data to support use of CC in
treatment of SPs. However, CC was equally effective as disorder-specific treatments for SA and SAD. Conclusions: A lack of data exists for disorder-
specific CBT interventions compared to CC. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)
Journal
of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, 30(1) : 6-17
- Year: 2017
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any), Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social phobia (social anxiety disorder), Specific
Phobia
- Type: Systematic reviews
-
Stage: Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions
(any), Cognitive & behavioural therapies (CBT)
Strawn, J. R., Compton, S. N., Robertson, B., Albano, A.
M., Hamdani, M., Rynn, M. A.
Objective: This is a feasibility study evaluating the safety, tolerability, and
potential anxiolytic efficacy of the alpha2 agonist guanfacine extended-release (GXR) in children and adolescents with generalized anxiety disorder
(GAD), separation anxiety disorder (SAD), or social phobia/social anxiety disorder. Methods: Youth aged 6-17 years with a primary diagnosis of GAD,
SAD, and/or social anxiety disorder were treated with flexibly dosed GXR (1-6 mg daily, n = 62) or placebo (n = 21) for 12 weeks. The primary aim of
this study was to determine the safety and tolerability of GXR in youth with anxiety disorders, which involved the analysis of treatment-emergent
adverse events (TEAEs), the emergence of suicidal ideation and behaviors, vital signs, and electrocardiographic/laboratory parameters. Exploratory
efficacy measures included dimensional anxiety scales (Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale [PARS] and Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders
[SCARED]), as well as the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement (CGI-I) scale. As this was an exploratory study, no inferential statistical analyses
were performed. Results: GXR was safe and well tolerated. Treatment-related mean +/- standard deviation changes in heart rate (GXR: 1.8 +/- 12 beats
per minute [bpm] decrease; placebo: 0.5 +/- 11 bpm decrease), systolic blood pressure (GXR: 2.3 +/- 11 mm Hg decrease; placebo: 1.7 - 11 mm Hg
decrease), or diastolic blood pressure (GXR: 1.3 +/- 9 mm Hg decrease; placebo: 0.9 -7 mm Hg increase) were similar between treatment groups. TEAEs,
including headache, somnolence/fatigue, abdominal pain, and dizziness, were consistent with the known safety profile of GXR.No differences were
observed between treatment groups for PARS and SCARED scores, although at endpoint, a higher proportion of subjects receiving GXR versus placebo
demonstrated CGI-I scores <=2 (54.2% vs. 31.6%), as rated by the clinician investigator. Conclusions: GXR was well tolerated in pediatric subjects
with GAD, SAD, and/or social anxiety disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)
Journal of Child and Adolescent
Psychopharmacology, 27(1) : 29-37
- Year: 2017
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any), Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social phobia (social anxiety disorder)
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
-
Treatment and intervention: Biological Interventions
(any), Other biological interventions
Terburg, D., Syal, S., Rosenberger, L. A., Heany, S. J., Stein, D. J., van-Honk, J.
Neuro-evolutionary theories describe social anxiety as habitual subordinate tendencies acquired through a recursive cycle of
social defeat and submissive reactions. If so, the steroid hormone testosterone might be of therapeutic value, as testosterone is a main force behind
implicit dominance drive in many species including humans. We combined these two theories to investigate whether the tendency to submit to the
dominance of others is an implicit mechanism in social anxiety (Study-1), and whether this can be relieved through testosterone administration
(Study-2). Using interactive eye-tracking we demonstrate that socially anxious humans more rapidly avert gaze from subliminal angry eye contact
(Study-1). We replicate this effect of implicit subordination in social anxiety in an independent sample, which is subsequently completely abolished
after a single placebo-controlled sublingual testosterone administration (Study-2). These findings provide crucial evidence for hormonal and
behavioral treatment strategies that specifically target mechanisms of dominance and subordination in social anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c)
2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Psychoneuroendocrinology, 72 : 205-
211
- Year: 2016
- Problem: Social phobia (social anxiety disorder)
- Type: Controlled clinical trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Biological Interventions
(any), Other biological interventions
Olivares-Olivares, P. J., Olivares, J., Macia, D., Macia, A., Montesinos, L.
The study investigates how to
improve the results reported by the reviews on the effects of clinical inter- ventions in adults with Generalized Social Phobia. The sample was
composed of 91 participants (median age = 19.90 years, SD = 1.05) randomly assigned to three experimental conditions. The evaluations were conducted
before and after treatment in all three groups and at 6-, 12-, and 24-month follow-up for the treatment groups. The results show (a) the
effectiveness of the cognitive-behavioral strategy of detection and intervention, in a community context, versus clinical intervention both for the
short and medium term; and (b) a significant improvement over the percentages of dropouts and of rates of complete recovery from the disorder. These
findings allow us to conclude that the cognitive-behavioral strategy of detection and intervention, in a community context is shown to be a
complementary intervention to the conventional and with high efficiency ratios. Copyright © 2016 by Sociedad Chilena de Psicologia Clinica.
Terapia Psicologica, 34(1) : 23-30
- Year: 2016
- Problem: Social phobia (social anxiety disorder)
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions
(any), Cognitive & behavioural therapies (CBT), Other Psychological Interventions
Nilsson, J.-E. C., Lundh, L.-G.
Background and Objectives: Socially anxious individuals tend to underestimate their
performance largely due to attentional bias. Video and audio feedback (AF) with cognitive preparation (CP) have shown to improve socially anxious
individuals' evaluation of their performance in previous studies. In the present study, it was hypothesized that one of the three steps in CP,
reduced self-focus (RS), is sufficient to cause an improved voice evaluation after AF. This was tested in a single-session randomized controlled
experiment. Method: Forty-one socially anxious participants were asked to give a speech, then to listen to and evaluate a taped recording of their
performance. Half of the sample were instructed to reduce their self-focus prior to AF, the rest received AF only. RS involved asking participants to
listen to the audio recording as though they were listening to a stranger. Generalization effects were assessed by a second speech. Results: AF with
RS led to more improved voice evaluations than AF-only after the first speech, and the effects remained in the evaluation of the second speech. More
positive speech evaluations were associated with corresponding reductions of performance anxiety. Limitations: small sample, analogue study.
Conclusion: One component of cognitive preparation-(RS)-appears to be sufficient to cause significant effects on voice evaluation in socially anxious
individuals. If the results are replicated in clinical samples, AF with RS may be a promising intervention in the treatment of social anxiety.
(PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 45(2) : 150-
162
- Year: 2016
- Problem: Social phobia (social anxiety disorder)
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions
(any), Other Psychological Interventions, Biofeedback, neurofeedback, audio/video feedback
Norton, A.
R., Abbott, M. J.
Imagery rescripting (IR) aims to alter negative
meanings associated with distressing autobiographical memories. The current study aimed to extend demonstrated benefits of IR for social anxiety
disorder (SAD), including direct comparison of IR with cognitive restructuring (CR) to assess the relative impact of these interventions on symptoms
and processes. SAD individuals (N = 60) were randomly allocated to IR, CR or Control conditions, and completed two speech tasks (before and after)
their assigned intervention. Participants completed measures of symptomatology and state affective/cognitive variables in relation to the
intervention and speech tasks. Results support the benefits of IR for SAD, with both IR and CR yielding large and equivalent reductions in trait
social anxiety. However, IR and CR may function via differing pathways. Outcomes suggest that IR may be most effective in the treatment of SAD when
delivered across multiple sessions or preceded by CR to target verbal and imaginal self-representations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all
rights reserved)
Journal of
Anxiety Disorders, 40 : 18-28
- Year: 2016
- Problem: Social phobia (social anxiety disorder)
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions
(any), Other Psychological Interventions
Liang, C. W., Hsu, W. Y.
This study investigated the differential effects of two attention bias modification (ABM) with different stimulus
durations. Seventy-two undergraduates with subclinical social anxiety were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: an ABM condition with either
a 100-ms or a 500-ms stimulus duration (ABM-100/ ABM-500) or an attention placebo (AP) condition with either a 100-ms or a 500-ms stimulus duration
(AP-100/ AP-500). Participants completed the pre-assessments, eight attentional training sessions, and post-assessments. A modified Posner paradigm
was used to assess changes in attentional processing. After completion of attentional training, the ABM-100 group significantly speeded up their
responses to 100-ms invalid trials, regardless of the word type. The ABM-100 group also exhibited significant reduced latencies to 500-ms invalid
social threat trials and a marginally significant reduced latencies to 500-ms invalid neutral trials. The ABM-500 group showed significant reduced
latencies to 500-ms invalid social threat trials. Both ABMs significantly reduced participants' fear of negative evaluations and interactional
anxiousness relative to their comparative AP. The effects on social anxiety did not differ between the two ABMs. This study suggests that although
both ABMs using short and long stimulus durations reduce some aspects of social anxiety, they influence participants' attentional disengagement in
different ways.\rCopyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Psychiatry
Research, 240 : 80-7
- Year: 2016
- Problem: Social phobia (social anxiety disorder)
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions
(any), Attention/cognitive bias
modification
Scaini, S., Belotti, R., Ogliari, A., Battaglia, M.
The effectiveness of different types of CBT for children and adolescents
suffering from Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is generally supported. However, no systematic efforts have been made to quantitatively summarize and
analyse the impact of specific variables on therapeutic outcome. Here, we assessed the magnitude and duration of CBT effectiveness in children and
adolescents with SAD. The effectiveness of CBT was supported by the effect sizes of studies that had examined pre-post (g = 0.99), between-group (g =
0.71), and follow-up responses (follow-up vs. pre-test mean g = 1.18, follow-up vs. post-test mean g = 0.25). A significant moderating effect was
found for the variable \"number of treatment sessions\". In addition, larger effect sizes were found in studies that included \"Social Skills
Training\" sessions in the intervention package. Data support the effectiveness of CBT interventions and its durability for SAD in children and
adolescents. Adding social skills training to the intervention package can further enhance the impact of treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c)
2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 42 : 105-
112
- Year: 2016
- Problem: Social phobia (social anxiety disorder)
- Type: Systematic reviews
-
Stage: Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions
(any), Cognitive & behavioural therapies (CBT)
Roushani, K., Nejad, S. B., Arshadi,
N., Honarmand, M. M., Fakhri, A.
Background: Social anxiety is an
extremely harmful disorder affectingmanyaspects of life and causes limited capability of encountering social situations among individuals.
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of the unified transdiagnostic treatment on social anxiety and positive and
negative affect in students. Methods: The statistical population of this study included all female undergraduate students with social anxiety in
Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences. 32 female undergraduate students of medical sciences university of Ahvaz were selected among those
with social anxiety score of 19 or more (cut-off score) through multistage random samplingmethodand were randomly placed in experimental and control
groups. Social phobia inventory (SPIN) and positive and negative affect schedule (PANAS) were implemented on subjects of both groups before and after
conducting the intervention. Unified transdiagnostic treatment was performed on the experimental group within 8 sessions of 90 minutes, but the
control group received no intervention. Data were analyzed by multivariate covariance analysis. Results: Results showed a significant difference
between experimental and control groups in terms of social anxiety and negative and positive affect, and unified transdiagnostic treatmenthas reduced
social anxiety and negative affect and also has increased positive affect in experimental group. Conclusions: It may be concluded based on the
results of this study that unified transdiagnostic treatment is effective on recovery of social anxiety and negative and positive affects among the
students. Therefore, clinical therapists are advised to use this intervention. Copyright © 2016, Razavi Hospital.
Razavi International Journal of Medicine, 4 (4) (no
pagination)(e41233) :
- Year: 2016
- Problem: Social phobia (social anxiety disorder)
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions
(any), Cognitive & behavioural therapies (CBT)
Schweden, T. L., Pittig, A., Brauer, D., Klumbies, E., Kirschbaum, C., Hoyer,
J.
Symptoms of depersonalization during feared social
situations are commonly experienced by individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD). Despite its clinical relevance, it is not addressed in
standard treatment manuals and it remains unclear if depersonalization is reduced by well-established treatments. This study investigated whether
cognitive therapy (CT) for SAD effectively reduces depersonalization and whether pre-treatment severity of depersonalization predicts or mediates
treatment outcome. In a randomized controlled trial, patients underwent the standardized Trier Social Stress Test before and after CT (n = 20) or a
waitlist period (n = 20) and were compared to healthy controls (n = 21). Self-reported depersonalization was measured immediately after each stress
test. Depersonalization significantly decreased following CT, especially in treatment responders (etap2 = 0.32). Pre-treatment depersonalization did
neither predict nor mediate post-treatment severity of social anxiety. Further prospective studies are needed for a better scientific understanding
of this effect. It should be scrutinized whether SAD-patients suffering from depersonalization would benefit from a more specific therapy. (PsycINFO
Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 43 : 99-
105
- Year: 2016
- Problem: Social phobia (social anxiety disorder)
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
-
Treatment and intervention: Cognitive & behavioural therapies (CBT)