anxiety

Background & Objectives: Social phobia is one of the common anxiety disorders

characterized by fear of social situations, shame and embarrassment in communicating with

unfamiliar people. The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of acceptance and

commitment therapy in reducing anxiety and depression in students with social phobia.

Methods: An experimental pretest-posttest with control group design was used to conduct the

study. The population consists of all female students in Ardabil city, 2013-2014 academic

years. Using a multiple-stage cluster sampling method, a representative sample consists of

400 students was selected for the study. Then, among the students those with social phobia

(based on the cut-off point), 34 participants were randomly selected and divided into two

groups of 17 people (one experimental group and one control group). The participants in

experimental group received acceptance and commitment therapy for 10 sessions of 90

minutes. The control group did not receive any intervention. Anxiety, depression and social

phobia questionnaires were administered to the two groups before and after the intervention.

Descriptive statistics and multivariate ANOVA (MANOVA) were used for data analysis.

Results: The results of data analysis showed that treatment based on acceptance and

commitment therapy reduces anxiety, depression and social phobia of students in the

experimental group compared with the control group (p<0.001).

Conclusion: The present study showed that acceptance and commitment therapy for students

with social phobia can be used as a psychological intervention along with other intervention

mechanisms.

Anxiety is among the most common psychological symptoms, which is also the cause of most cognitive-behavioral disorders. Social anxiety disorder is one of these disorders. In this type of disorder, individuals are unable to have effective social communication and their interpersonal communication is impaired. Given the high prevalence of social phobia in youth population and that this population is considered as an active population that is also the main factor for making the effort, growth, and development in any society, this study aimed to determine the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in reducing the symptoms of social anxiety among the young people in Tehran. For this purpose, 16 individuals out of 18-28 year-old young adults, who referred to some of the selected clinics in Tehran, were selected using the convenience

sampling method. Then they were randomly divided into experimental and control groups (8 individuals in each group). In this semi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest control group design, the 12-session ACT protocol was used for the subjects in the experimental group, while the subjects in the control group did not receive any intervention. The Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI) were used to measure the symptoms of social anxiety. After the data were collected, ANCOVA test was used for data analysis. The results indicate the effectiveness of ACT in reducing the symptoms of social anxiety among young people. Therefore, ACT can have a significant effect on social anxiety by increasing psychological flexibility.

Objective

To examine whether an empirically and theoretically derived treatment combining mindfulness- and acceptance-based strategies with behavioral approaches would improve outcomes in GAD over an empirically-supported treatment.

Method

This trial randomized 81 individuals (65.4% female, 80.2% identified as White, average age 32.92) diagnosed with GAD to receive 16 sessions of either an Acceptance Based Behavior Therapy (ABBT) or Applied Relaxation (AR). Assessments at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 6-month follow-up included the following primary outcome measures: GAD Clinician Severity Rating, Structured Interview Guide for the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, Penn State Worry Questionnaire, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory. Secondary outcomes included the Beck Depression Inventory-II, Quality of Life Inventory, and number of comorbid diagnoses.

Results

Mixed Effect Regression Models showed significant large effects for Time for all primary outcome measures (d’s 1.36 to 1.61) but non-significant, small effects for Condition and Condition X Time (d’s 0.002 to 0.24), indicating clients in both treatments improved comparably over treatment. For secondary outcomes, Time was significant (d’s 0.74 to 1.38) but Condition and Condition X Time effects were not (d’s 0.11 to 0.31). No significant differences emerged over follow-up (d’s 0.02 to 0.16) indicating maintenance of gains. Between 63.3 and 80.0% of clients in ABBT and 60.6 and 78.8% of clients in AR experienced clinically significant change across 5 calculations of change at post-treatment and follow-up.

Conclusions

ABBT is a viable alternative for treating GAD.

Some evidence suggests that acceptance-based approaches such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) may be well-suited to geriatric generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The primary goal of this project was to determine whether ACT was feasible for this population. Seven older primary-care patients with GAD received 12 individual sessions of ACT; another 9 were treated with cognitive-behavioral therapy. No patients dropped out of ACT, and worry and depression improved. Findings suggest that ACT may warrant a large-scale investigation with anxious older adults.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is gaining traction as an effective therapy for a wide range of presenting concerns. Limited research and discussion has been published focused on utilizing ACT with older adults. The ACT model is proposed to be a good fit for this population because many older adults may already be values orientated due to awareness that their lifetime is limited. A trans-diagnostic approach that normalizes experiences common to older age may be advantageous given older adults often present with heterogeneous issues and life experiences. A case study of an 89-year-old woman experiencing late-life clinical depression and generalized anxiety disorder is presented. A significant factor contributing to her distress was her struggle with the cognitive and physical changes associated with aging. Results suggest that a brief ACT course implemented by a relative novice ACT therapist was effective in reducing psychological inflexibility as well as reducing distress to non-clinical levels at 6 weeks post therapy. Potential implications for adapting ACT with older adults are discussed, as well as reflections on some of the potential challenges for clinicians who are ACT beginners.

Anxiety sensitivity (AS) and the tendency to avoid emotions have both been identified as vulnerability factors for the development and maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Furthermore, both cross-sectional and prospective research have provided evidence that emotional avoidance and AS interact to predict anxiety symptoms, such that AS may only be associated with anxiety-related pathology among those who exhibit a tendency to avoid their emotions. The purpose of the present study was to determine if this moderator model extends to PTSD within a sample of substance dependent patients. Specifically, this study examined if AS is associated with PTSD only among individuals with high (vs. low) levels of negative emotional avoidance. As predicted, results of a logistic regression analysis revealed a significant interaction between negative emotional avoidance and AS in predicting PTSD status. Follow-up analyses revealed a significant positive association between AS and PTSD status for participants high in negative emotional avoidance; however, AS was not associated with PTSD for those low in negative emotional avoidance. This finding remained even when relevant covariates were included in the model. Results confirm hypotheses and are consistent with the extant anxiety-risk literature.

To find the full text version of this article and others (as well as download a full text .pdf.), ACBS members can visit the ScienceDirect homepage here.

Social anxiety tends to be examined from an intrapersonal perspective. Only recently have researchers started to explore social anxiety in the context of close relationships. In the current study, we investigated whether people with greater social anxiety respond defensively when the threat of being rejected by one׳s romantic partner becomes salient. Confronted with possible rejection, we hypothesized that people with greater social anxiety would devalue their partners to minimize the impact of the rejection. Fifty one couples participated in a laboratory interaction with one member assigned to a rejection condition—led to believe that their partner was listing excessive negative characteristics about them; the other member was assigned to a neutral condition in which they received an innocuous filler task. Results revealed a positive association between social anxiety and rejection concerns that could not be attributed to depressive symptoms, rejection sensitivity, attachment styles, or trust. People with greater social anxiety coped with these concerns by devaluing romantic partners following the rejection condition; in the neutral condition, they adopted an overly positive/enhanced perception of partners. Our findings illustrate the defensive, risk management strategies used by people with greater social anxiety in aversive relational contexts.

To find the full text version of this article and others (as well as download a full text .pdf.), ACBS members can visit the ScienceDirect homepage here.