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Social anxiety and ruminative self-focus
1Department of Education, University of Patras, Patras 26 110, Greece. stephanosv@upatras.gr
Journal of Anxiety Disorders
|October 12, 2007
Summary
Experiential self-focus reduced anxiety and improved mood in socially anxious individuals. Analytical self-focus showed no significant effects, suggesting different impacts of self-attention modes on social anxiety.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Rumination and self-focused attention are linked to social anxiety maintenance.
- Self-attention can manifest in distinct modes with varying functional outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the differential effects of analytical versus experiential self-focused attention on mood and cognition in social anxiety.
- To examine how these self-attention modes influence individuals with high and low social anxiety.
Main Methods:
- Recruitment of high and low socially anxious participants (n=29 per group).
- Administration of symptom-focused induction items requiring either analytical or experiential self-focus.
- Assessment of mood and cognitive responses (thought-listing) post-manipulation.
Main Results:
- In high socially anxious individuals, experiential self-focus significantly decreased anxious mood.
- Experiential self-focus was associated with more positive thoughts in the highly anxious group.
- Analytical self-focus did not yield significant changes in mood or cognition for any group.
Conclusions:
- Experiential self-focus may be a beneficial strategy for managing mood and cognition in social anxiety.
- Analytical self-focus may not effectively alleviate symptoms of social anxiety.
- Findings highlight the importance of considering the mode of self-attention in understanding and treating social anxiety.
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