Interoceptive exposure exercises for social anxiety.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Anxiety Disorders

Background:

• Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is often accompanied by panic attacks and heightened anxiety sensitivity (AS).
• AS involves fear of physical anxiety sensations, particularly blushing, sweating, and trembling, which are prominent in SAD.
• Current treatments like interoceptive exposure (IE) effectively reduce AS but lack tasks targeting these specific social fears.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify novel IE tasks that elicit blushing, sweating, and/or trembling.
• To measure the intensity of anxiety and physical sensations produced by various IE tasks.
• To evaluate if combining IE with a social task offers added benefit over a social task alone.

Main Methods:

• Fifty-five individuals with SAD and fear of visible physical sensations participated.
• Participants completed a control task and eight IE tasks (e.g., hot sauce, hyperventilation).
• Anxiety and sensation intensity were assessed, and the incremental validity of combined IE and social tasks was examined.

Main Results:

• All tested IE tasks significantly increased anxiety and physical sensations compared to the control task.
• Effect sizes for the IE tasks ranged from moderate to large (η(p)(2) = .20–.50).
• Combining an IE task with a social task did not yield significantly greater responses than a social task alone.

Conclusions:

• Novel IE tasks effectively induce feared physical sensations and anxiety in individuals with SAD.
• These findings support the development of tailored IE interventions for social anxiety.
• Further research is needed to explore the combined efficacy of IE and social tasks in SAD treatment.