Social anxiety and its psychosocial impact on the lives of people with epilepsy.

Little is known about social anxiety among people with epilepsy (PWE), although PWE are more likely to be diagnosed with social anxiety disorder than the general population. The purpose of this study was to determine which psychosocial and seizure-related variables are associated with social anxiety. It was hypothesized that social anxiety would be positively correlated with perceived seizure severity, stigma, impact of epilepsy, fear of negative evaluation, and experiential avoidance. Further, social anxiety would be negatively correlated with epilepsy knowledge and disclosure of epilepsy. Finally, if a seizure occurred in public and others were unaware of the epilepsy, participants would report greater judgment, anxiety, and rumination compared with those in a situation where others were aware of the epilepsy. A total of 101 individuals with epilepsy participated in this online study. Social anxiety was found to correlate with both psychosocial and seizure-related variables in the expected directions. Further, social anxiety predicted significant variance in stigma and disclosure beyond known predictors of stigma. Participants in both conditions (disclosed diagnosis of epilepsy versus undisclosed diagnosis of epilepsy) were equally distressed by having a seizure in public. These findings provide an initial basis for discerning how to best assess and support PWE with social anxiety.

Rumination and distraction periods immediately following a speech task: effect on postevent processing in social anxiety.

The purpose of this study was to investigate social anxiety and the effect of rumination and distraction periods immediately following a speech task on subsequent postevent processing. A secondary aim was to examine the content of postevent rumination. Participants (N = 114 students) completed measures of social anxiety and depression, delivered a 3-minute speech, and were randomly assigned to complete (1) a rumination form about the speech (guided negative rumination condition) or (2) an anagram form (distraction condition). One week later participants completed measures of postevent processing related to the speech task. It was hypothesized that social anxiety would interact with condition in predicting levels of postevent processing. This hypothesis was supported in the prediction of positive thoughts such that at high levels of social anxiety the distraction condition led to more positive thoughts compared with the guided negative rumination condition, whereas at low levels of social anxiety conditions were similar with respect to positive thoughts. Irrespective of condition, both social anxiety and depression predicted greater postevent rumination and negative thoughts 1 week later. With respect to the content of postevent rumination, socially anxious individuals reported being more concerned about some aspects of the presentation (e.g. poor posture), whereas other concerns were equally noted regardless of social anxiety level (e.g. poor content). The present results highlight the potential clinical utility of distracting from social anxiety to allow for greater access to positive thoughts postevent.

Self-Help for Social Anxiety: Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing a Mindfulness and Acceptance-Based Approach With a Control Group.

There are many barriers to the delivery of evidence-based treatment, including geographical location, cost, and stigma. Self-help may address some of these factors but there is a paucity of research on the efficacy of self-help for many problems, including social anxiety. The present research evaluated the efficacy of a mindfulness and acceptance-based self-help approach for the treatment of social anxiety. Individuals seeking help for social anxiety or shyness were recruited from the community. Participants (N = 117) were randomly assigned to a book (n = 58) or wait-list control condition (n = 59) on a 1:1 ratio. Hierarchical linear modelling results supported the efficacy of the self-help condition with between-group effect sizes on social anxiety outcomes ranging from .74 to .79. Significant change was also observed on self-compassion, mindfulness, acceptance, and depression. Some variables, including social anxiety and acceptance, were assessed weekly for those in the book condition. Additional participants (n = 35) were recruited for the book condition increasing the sample size to 93 for the latent change score modelling analyses. A unidirectional model was supported: increases in acceptance were associated with subsequent decreases in social anxiety. Overall these results support the use of a mindfulness and acceptance-based self-help approach for social anxiety.

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in patients with depression: current perspectives.

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) was developed to prevent relapse in individuals with depressive disorders. This widely used intervention has garnered considerable attention and a comprehensive review of current trends is warranted. As such, this review provides an overview of efficacy, mechanisms of action, and concludes with a discussion of dissemination. Results provided strong support for the efficacy of MBCT despite some methodological shortcomings in the reviewed literature. With respect to mechanisms of action, specific elements, such as mindfulness, repetitive negative thinking, self-compassion and affect, and cognitive reactivity have emerged as important mechanisms of change. Finally, despite a lack of widespread MBCT availability outside urban areas, research has shown that self-help variations are promising. Combined with findings that teacher competence may not be a significant predictor of treatment outcome, there are important implications for dissemination. Taken together, this review shows that while MBCT is an effective treatment for depression, continued research in the areas of efficacy, mechanisms of action, and dissemination are recommended.

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression: trends and developments.

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) was developed as a psychological intervention for individuals at risk of depressive relapse. Possible mechanisms of change for this intervention are in line with its theoretical underpinnings, and include increases in mindfulness and/or decreases in negative repetitive thoughts. This review provides an overview of current trends in MBCT research, including efficacy and questions regarding the specific effects of MBCT in light of recent comparisons with structurally equivalent control conditions, mechanisms of change, and moderators of treatment outcome. In addition, future directions are discussed, such as challenges with training an adequate number of therapists and disseminating this therapy.

Social anxiety disorder in the Canadian population: exploring gender differences in sociodemographic profile.

The present study examined the prevalence and sociodemographic profile of Canadians with social anxiety disorder using data from the Canadian Community Health Survey Cycle 1.2 (N = 36,984). Social anxiety disorder was assessed using the World Mental Health Composite International Diagnostic Interview and sociodemographic variables were explored by gender. Results suggested significant gender differences for prevalence, comorbid depression, marital status, living arrangements, employment status in the past 12 months, and self-reported mental health status. These observations suggest that individuals with social anxiety disorder experience life disruption, and that of all socially anxious respondents, females may be experiencing more distress than males.