Social Anxiety Disorder
Conditions
Keywords
social phobia, compassion, shame
Brief summary
This study evaluates the addition of a self-compassion training in the treatment of social anxiety disorder. Half of the participants will receive a self-compassion enhanced group cognitive-behavioral therapy, while the other half will receive standard group cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Detailed description
There is growing evidence showing that shame is associated with social anxiety. Also, empirical data shows that individuals with social anxiety have higher levels of shame compared with healthy individuals and that shame might play an important role in the maintenance of social anxiety symptoms. Although cognitive-behavioral therapy for social anxiety seems to reduce the level of shame-proneness, the magnitude of this reduction is a small one. The purpose of this study is to test whether adding a self-compassion component (which seems to be effective in reducing shame feelings) to a cognitive-behavioral protocol would increase the efficacy of the treatment in reducing both shame-proneness and social anxiety symptoms compared with a standard cognitive-behavioral intervention.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALSelf-Compassion Enhanced Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
12 group sessions of CBT for social anxiety based on Heimberg & Becker's (2002) protocol with additional self-compassion exercises integrated into the treatment
BEHAVIORALCognitive-Behavioral Therapy
12 group sessions of CBT for social anxiety based on Heimberg & Becker's (2002) protocol
Sponsors
Babes-Bolyai University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* subjects diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorders using the DSM-5 criteria * subjects that have SAD as the primary diagnosis according to DSM-5 criteria * exceed the cutoff scores on SPIN, SIAS, and LSAS-SR
Exclusion criteria
* subjects that score over 29 points at BDI-II * display suicidal ideation (i.e., exceed a score of 2 on the suicide item of BDI-II) * undergo other forms of treatment for SAD * have a diagnosis of psychosis, bipolar disorder or personality disorders according to DSM-5 criteria
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Changes in social anxiety symptoms using (Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale; Leibowitz, 1987) | (1) baseline; (2) weekly for 11 weeks starting with the second week of treatment (2) at the of end of treatment (12 weeks after the start of the treatment) ; (3) 6 months after the end of treatment | Self-reported measure of social anxiety symptoms |
| Changes in social anxiety symptoms using SPIN (Social Phobia Inventory; Connor et al., 2000) | (1) baseline; (2) after 6 weeks from the start of the treatment; (2) at the of end of treatment (12 weeks after the start of the treatment); (3) 6 months after the end of treatment | Self-reported measure of social anxiety symptoms |
| Changes in social anxiety symptoms using SIAS (Social Interaction Anxiety Scale; Mattick & Clarke, 1998) | (1) baseline; (2) after 6 weeks from the start of the treatment; (2) at the of end of treatment (12 weeks after the start of the treatment); (3) 6 months after the end of treatment | Self-reported measure of social anxiety symptoms |
| Changes in shame-proneness using TOSCA-3 (Test of Self-Conscious Affect-3; Tangney, Dearing, Wagner, & Gramzow, 2000) | (1) baseline; (2) after 3, 6, 9 weeks from the start of the treatment; (2) at the of end of treatment (12 weeks after the start of the treatment); (3) 6 months after the end of the treatment | Self-reported measure of predisposition to experience shame |
| Changes in social anxiety disorder clinical status | at the end of the therapy | DSM-5 semi-structured interview for social anxiety disorder |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Changes in irrational and rational thinking using ABS-II (Attitudes and Beliefs Scale- 2; DiGiuseppe, Leaf, Exner, & Robin, 1988) | (1) baseline; (2) after 6 weeks from the start of the treatment; (2) at the of end of treatment (12 weeks after the start of the treatment); (3) 6 months after the end of treatment | Self-reported measure of rational and irrational beliefs |
| Changes in emotion regulation using ERQ (Emotion Regulation Questionnaire; Gross & John, 2003) | (1) baseline; (2) after 6 weeks from the start of the treatment; (2) at the of end of treatment (12 weeks after the start of the treatment); (3) 6 months after the end of treatment | Self-reported measure of the use of suppression and reappraisal |
| Changes in emotion regulation using DERS (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale; Gratz & Roemer, 2004) | (1) baseline; (2) after 6 weeks from the start of the treatment; (2) at the of end of treatment (12 weeks after the start of the treatment); (3) 6 months after the end of treatment | Self-reported measure on emotion regulation strategies |
| Changes in self-compassion using SCS (Self-Compassion Scale; Neff, 2003) | (1) baseline; (2) after 6 weeks from the start of the treatment; (2)at the of end of treatment (12 weeks after the start of the treatment); (3) 6 months after the end of treatment | Self-reported measure of self-compassion |
| Changes in social phobia related thoughts using BFNE (Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale; Leary, 1983) | (1) baseline; (2) weekly for 11 weeks starting with the second week of treatment (2) at the of end of treatment (12 weeks after the start of the treatment); (3) 6 months after the end of treatment | Self-reported measure of social phobia relevant negative thoughts |
| Changes in shame with PFQ-2 (Personal Feelings Questionnaire-2; Harder & Zalma, 1990) | (1) baseline; (2) weekly for 11 weeks starting with the second week of treatment (2) at the of end of treatment (12 weeks after the start of the treatment); (3) 6 months after the end of treatment | Self-reported measure of shame |
| Changes in rational and irrational beliefs using GABS (General Attitudes and Beliefs Scale; Bernard, 1998) | (1) baseline; (2) after 6 weeks from the start of the treatment; (2) at the of end of treatment (12 weeks after the start of the treatment); (3) 6 months after the end of treatment | Self-reported measure of rational and irrational beliefs |
| Changes in self-compassion using SCSs (Self-Compassion Scale Short Form; Raes et al., 2011) | (1) baseline; (2) weekly for 11 weeks starting with the second week of treatment (2) at the of end of treatment (12 weeks after the start of the treatment); (3) 6 months after the end of treatment | Self-reported measure of self-compassion |
| Changes in depressive symptoms using BDI-II (Beck Depression Inventory-II; Beck, 1996) | (1) baseline; (2) after 6 weeks from the start of the treatment; (2) at the of end of treatment (12 weeks after the start of the treatment); (3) 6 months after the end of treatment | Self-reported measure of depressive symptoms |
| Changes in positive and negative affect using PANAS (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule; Watson & Clark, 1999) | (1) baseline; (2) weekly for 11 weeks starting with the second week of treatment (2) at the of end of treatment (12 weeks after the start of the treatment); (3) 6 months after the end of treatment | Self-reported measure of positive and negative affect |
| Changes in positive and negative emotions using PDA (Profile of Affective Distress; Opriș & Macavei, 2005) | (1) baseline; (2) after 6 weeks from the start of the treatment; (2) at the of end of treatment (12 weeks after the start of the treatment); (3) 6 months after the end of treatment | Self-reported measure of positive and negative emotions |
Countries
Romania
Outcome results
None listed