Anxiety, Shyness
Conditions
Brief summary
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is the most common anxiety disorder, affecting up to 10% of the population and causing significant distress. Fortunately, there are effective interventions including cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). However, only about a third of people with SAD seek treatment. There are a number of barriers to seeking treatment, including cost, availability, and stigma. Self-help may be one way to reach people who may not otherwise present for treatment. Research on self-help books for SAD based on CBT has yielded promising results. However, no research to date has examined the efficacy of ACT-based self-help for SAD. The primary purpose of the present study is to evaluate The Mindfulness and Acceptance-based Workbook for Social Anxiety and Shyness (Fleming & Kocovski, 2013), an ACT-based self-help book. Socially anxious participants will be randomly assigned to receive the workbook or be placed on a waitlist. It is hypothesized that workbook participants will report significantly reduced social anxiety at the end of eight weeks compared to waitlist participants. The secondary purpose is to evaluate how the treatment works. Increases in mindfulness and acceptance have been shown to lead to reduced social anxiety. These same variables will be examined in the present study. Finally, this research aims to examine variables that can predict who may do well in treatment. Given that two-thirds of people who meet criteria for this disorder will not seek traditional treatments, it is important to develop and evaluate alternative treatments, including those based on self-help.
Interventions
OTHERThe Mindfulness and Acceptance-based Workbook for Social Anxiety and Shyness (Fleming & Kocovski, 2013)
An acceptance and commitment therapy-based self-help workbook for social anxiety and shyness. It includes an 8-week program.
Sponsors
Wilfrid Laurier University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* must be seeking help for shyness/social anxiety
Exclusion criteria
\-
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change from Baseline to 4 and 8 weeks later in The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (Liebowitz, 1987) | Baseline and 4 weeks and 8 weeks | Self-reported social anxiety scores. Each item is scored 0 (none) to 3 (severe) yielding a total between 0 and 72. |
| Change from Baseline to 4 and 8 weeks later in the Freiberg Mindfulness Inventory (Buchheld, Grossman, & Walach, 2001) | Baseline and 4 weeks and 8 weeks | Self-reported mindfulness. Each item is scored 0 (rarely) to 4 (almost always) yielding a total between and 0 and 56. |
| Change from Baseline to 4 and 8 weeks later in the Social Anxiety - Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (MacKenzie & Kocovski, 2010) | Baseline and 4 weeks and 8 weeks | Self-reported acceptance of social anxiety symptoms. Each item is scored 1 (never true) to 7 (always true) yielding a total between and 19 and 133. |
| Change from Baseline to 4 and 8 weeks later in the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996) | Baseline and 4 weeks and 8 weeks | Self-reported depression symptoms. Each item is scored 0 to 3 yielding a total between and 0 and 63. |
| Treatment credibility will be assessed using the scale by Devilly and Borkovec (2000) one week following the start of treatment (consistent with Nordgreen et al., 2012). | One week following the start of treatment | This 6-item scale assesses the participants' idea of treatment credibility. |
Countries
Canada
Outcome results
None listed