The current paper presents an update to the model of social anxiety disorder (social phobia) published by Rapee and Spence (2004). It evaluates the research over the intervening 11 years and advances ...the original model in response to the empirical evidence. We review the recent literature regarding the impact of genetic and biological influences, temperament, cognitive factors, peer relationships, parenting, adverse life events and cultural variables upon the development of SAD. The paper draws together recent literature demonstrating the complex interplay between these variables, and highlights the many etiological pathways. While acknowledging the considerable progress in the empirical literature, the significant gaps in knowledge are noted, particularly the need for further longitudinal research to clarify causal pathways, and moderating and mediating effects. The resulting model will be valuable in informing the design of more effective treatment and preventive interventions for SAD and will provide a useful platform to guide future research directions.
•The past decade has produced exciting research relating to the development of social anxiety disorder.•This paper updates the model of social anxiety disorder (social phobia) published by Rapee and Spence (2004).•The evidence reveals a complex interplay between individual and environmental factors in the development of SAD.•The model informs the prevention and treatment of SAD and provides guidance for future research directions.
The restrictions put in place to contain the COVID-19 virus have led to widespread social isolation, impacting mental health worldwide. These restrictions may be particularly difficult for ...adolescents, who rely heavily on their peer connections for emotional support. However, there has been no longitudinal research examining the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among adolescents. This study addresses this gap by investigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents’ mental health, and moderators of change, as well as assessing the factors perceived as causing the most distress. Two hundred and forty eight adolescents (
M
age
= 14.4; 51% girls; 81.8% Caucasian) were surveyed over two time points; in the 12 months leading up to the COVID-19 outbreak (T1), and again two months following the implementation of government restrictions and online learning (T2). Online surveys assessed depressive symptoms, anxiety, and life satisfaction at T1 and T2, and participants’ schooling, peer and family relationships, social connection, media exposure, COVID-19 related stress, and adherence to government stay-at-home directives at T2 only. In line with predictions, adolescents experienced significant increases in depressive symptoms and anxiety, and a significant decrease in life satisfaction from T1 to T2, which was particularly pronounced among girls. Moderation analyses revealed that COVID-19 related worries, online learning difficulties, and increased conflict with parents predicted increases in mental health problems from T1 to T2, whereas adherence to stay-at-home orders and feeling socially connected during the COVID-19 lockdown protected against poor mental health. This study provides initial longitudinal evidence for the decline of adolescent’s mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results suggest that adolescents are more concerned about the government restrictions designed to contain the spread of the virus, than the virus itself, and that those concerns are associated with increased anxiety and depressive symptoms, and decreased life satisfaction.
Background: There are few evaluations of very early intervention for the prevention of internalising disorders and those that exist generally evaluate outcomes to a maximum of 12 months. The current ...study evaluated the very long term effects (11 years) of a brief internalising prevention program presented to parents of preschool aged children.
Methods: The original sample comprised 146 preschool‐aged children who scored high on measures of inhibited temperament. Half of the parents were given a brief educational program (six‐sessions) to assist them to help their children reduce anxiousness. Over 70% of the original sample (n = 103) was assessed for the current study, which occurred when the sample was approximately 15 years. They were assessed on current diagnoses of anxiety and depression, as well as symptoms of anxiety, depression, negative thoughts, and life interference.
Results: Compared with controls, girls whose parents had been through the early intervention program showed significantly fewer internalising disorders, maternally reported anxiety symptoms and self‐reported life interference, and trends toward lower self‐reported anxiety symptoms and self reported thoughts of loss and failure. Boys showed few differences.
Conclusions: A brief early intervention program delivered to parents of preschool‐aged children who are at risk for later internalising distress shows lasting benefits for girls into the high‐risk period of middle adolescence. Given the low costs associated with this program, these results show promise for strong public health benefits.
The current research examined the bidirectional effects between internalizing problems and peer victimization within a meta-analytic framework. The study also investigated several potential ...moderators of these effects which have not been examined previously in relation to meta-analytic studies. Only longitudinal studies examining the association between internalizing symptoms and peer victimization from five online databases were included and after screening 7,122 articles, 85 studies were included with a total of 117,520 participants. Results supported a bidirectional relationship between internalizing symptoms and peer victimization with small effects for both: victimization to internalizing, r = .18 and internalizing to victimization, r = .19. There were few differences between effects based on moderators. The effects were consistent across youth’s age and sex. Although significant effects in both directions were shown for most forms of victimization, internalizing more strongly predicted cyber victimization than traditional forms of victimization. The results hold implications for theories of the interplay between peer relationships and internalizing psychopathology and may help to improve treatment or early intervention programs.
•Peer victimization predicts higher internalizing symptoms in school-aged children.•Higher internalizing symptoms predict increases in peer victimization.•The bidirectional relationships were consistent across age, sex, and study interval.•Findings hold across all forms of victimization and especially cyberbullying.•Effects were maintained when self-reported and when reported by different informants.
Anxiety is one of the most widely observed and extensively studied psychological concomitants of stuttering. Research conducted prior to the turn of the century produced evidence of heightened ...anxiety in people who stutter, yet findings were inconsistent and ambiguous. Failure to detect a clear and systematic relationship between anxiety and stuttering was attributed to methodological flaws, including use of small sample sizes and unidimensional measures of anxiety. More recent research, however, has generated far less equivocal findings when using social anxiety questionnaires and psychiatric diagnostic assessments in larger samples of people who stutter. In particular, a growing body of research has demonstrated an alarmingly high rate of social anxiety disorder among adults who stutter. Social anxiety disorder is a prevalent and chronic anxiety disorder characterised by significant fear of humiliation, embarrassment, and negative evaluation in social or performance-based situations. In light of the debilitating nature of social anxiety disorder, and the impact of stuttering on quality of life and personal functioning, collaboration between speech pathologists and psychologists is required to develop and implement comprehensive assessment and treatment programmes for social anxiety among people who stutter. This comprehensive approach has the potential to improve quality of life and engagement in everyday activities for people who stutter. Determining the prevalence of social anxiety disorder among children and adolescents who stutter is a critical line of future research. Further studies are also required to confirm the efficacy of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy in treating social anxiety disorder in stuttering.
Educational Objectives: The reader will be able to: (a) describe the nature and course of social anxiety disorder; (b) outline previous research regarding anxiety and stuttering, including features of social anxiety disorder; (c) summarise research findings regarding the diagnostic assessment of social anxiety disorder among people who stutter; (d) describe approaches for the assessment and treatment of social anxiety in stuttering, including the efficacy of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy; and (e) outline clinical implications and future directions associated with heightened social anxiety in stuttering.
Depression and anxiety are common, disabling and chronic. Self-guided internet-delivered treatments are popular, but few people complete them. New strategies are required to realise their potential.
...To evaluate the effect of automated emails on the effectiveness, safety, and acceptability of a new automated transdiagnostic self-guided internet-delivered treatment, the Wellbeing Course, for people with depression and anxiety.
A randomised controlled trial was conducted through the website: www.ecentreclinic.org. Two hundred and fifty seven people with elevated symptoms were randomly allocated to the 8 week course either with or without automated emails, or to a waitlist control group. Primary outcome measures were the Patient Health Questionnaire 9-Item (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item (GAD-7).
Participants in the treatment groups had lower PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores at post-treatment than controls. Automated emails increased rates of course completion (58% vs. 35%), and improved outcomes in a subsample with elevated symptoms.
The new self-guided course was beneficial, and automated emails facilitated outcomes. Further attention to strategies that facilitate adherence, learning, and safety will help realise the potential of self-guided interventions.
Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12610001058066.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Of the few risk factors identified for the development of anxiety disorders, behavioral inhibition has received the strongest support. However, studies examining prediction of anxiety disorder from ...inhibition over time have not been extensive, and very few have assessed the impact of inhibition assessed early in life on anxiety in adolescence.
The current study assessed 3 risk factors among 91 children when they were approximately 4 years of age, and determined anxiety diagnoses when the children were in midadolescence (mean age, 15 years). Children were included in the study at preschool age if they scored high (n = 57) or low (n = 34) on behavioral inhibition. Maternal anxiousness and maternal attitudes toward the child were assessed at the same time. Diagnoses at age 15 years were categorized as social anxiety disorder or other anxiety disorders.
Social anxiety disorder at age 15 years was predicted by both inhibition and maternal anxiousness at age 4 years, whereas other anxiety disorders were predicted only by maternal anxiousness. Almost 37% of inhibited preschool-aged children demonstrated social anxiety disorder at age 15, compared with 15% of uninhibited children.
The results support a growing body of research pointing to the importance of behavioral inhibition as a risk for social anxiety well into adolescence, and also highlight maternal anxiousness as a more general risk across anxiety disorders.
•Viewing idealized selfies increased women’s face-related concerns.•Viewing no-makeup selfies reduced the impact of idealized selfies on those concerns.•No-makeup selfies may educate women on the ...idealized nature of social media images.
Viewing idealized images of attractive women on social media can negatively impact women’s body image and mood. Although women tend to post idealized images on social media, some also post natural no-makeup images. This study examined the impact of viewing both made up and no-makeup selfies on young women’s body image and mood. Female undergraduate students (N = 175) viewed either images of a woman wearing no makeup interspersed among idealized made up images of that woman (no-makeup condition), only idealized made up images of a woman (makeup only condition), or appearance-neutral travel images (control condition). Participants rated their state appearance satisfaction and mood pre- and post-exposure to the study images and rated their desire to change aspects of the face, hair, and skin post-exposure to the study images. Participants in the makeup only condition were less satisfied with their facial appearance and were more motivated to change aspects of their face, hair, and skin after exposure to the study images. Viewing the study images had no impact on the body image or mood of participants in the no-makeup condition. These results suggest that no-makeup selfies may reduce any negative impact of idealized made up images on women’s facial concerns.
Family variables are thought to play a key role in a wide variety of psychopathology according to many theories. Yet, specific models of the development of anxiety disorders place little emphasis on ...general family factors despite clear evidence that anxiety runs in families. The current review examines evidence for the involvement of a number of family-related variables in the development of anxiety disorders as well as the importance of families in their management. Evidence across most areas is shown to be weak and inconsistent, with the one exception being an extensive literature on the role of parenting in the development of anxiety. There is also currently little evidence that family factors have a strong role to play in the treatment of anxiety, aside from research demonstrating the value of parents and partners as non-critical supports in therapy. The promises and hints in the literature, combined with the currently inconsistent methods, suggest that considerably more research is needed to determine whether specific family factors may yet be shown to play a key role in the development and management of anxiety disorders.
•Developed a measure of parental reactions to adolescent depression.•Parental responses were overprotection, criticism, distress and support.•Depressed parents reported more negative attitudes and ...responses.•Parents of depressed youth reported more negative responses.•Parent depression literacy and depression stigma impacted parental responses.
This study aimed to: (1) validate a measure of parental reactions, attitudes and understanding of adolescent depressive symptoms (PRAUD) and (2) examine the impact of adolescent and parent depressive symptoms, parental knowledge about adolescent depression (depression literacy), and parental depression stigma on parental responses to adolescent depression.
Parents (N = 440) of adolescents aged 13–17 years completed an anonymous online questionnaire.
Factor analysis suggested four patterns of parental responses to adolescent depressive symptoms: overprotection, criticism, distress and support. Internal consistency was good for all PRAUD subscales (α = 0.80–0.88). Higher parent and adolescent depressive symptoms, greater depression stigma and lower depression literacy were associated with more negative parental responses. Higher adolescent depressive symptoms and poorer parent depression literacy predicted overprotective responses, and depression stigma moderated the effect of parent depressive symptoms. Depression literacy moderated the effect of parent depression on supportive parental responses, and stigma moderated the effect of adolescent depression. Higher levels of depression stigma and parent depression predicted critical responses, and depression literacy moderated the effect of adolescent depressive symptoms. Distress responses were predicted by higher stigma, and depression literacy moderated the effect of parent and adolescent depressive symptoms.
Differences between the two sample recruitment sites.
There was evidence of more negative parental attitudes and responses among depressed parents and parents of depressed youth. Improving parental depression literacy and reducing depression stigma during treatment of adolescent depression may facilitate parental responsiveness, and in some circumstances, may help buffer against the negative impact of parental depression.
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