Possis Elizabeth A, Kemp Joshua J, Lickel James J, Sy Jennifer T, Dixon Laura J, Deacon Brett J
Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System.
University of Wyoming, Department of Psychology.
J Cogn Psychother. 2013;27(3):210-220. doi: 10.1891/0889-8391.27.3.210. Epub 2013 Jan 1.
Cognitive-behavioral theories suggest that anxiety is maintained in part by estimates of the probability and cost of feared negative outcomes. Social phobia may be unique among the anxiety disorders in that it is characterized by overestimates of the cost of events that are objectively noncatastrophic (e.g., committing social mishaps). As such, treatment approaches that target cost bias may be particularly effective in reducing social phobia symptoms. This study examined the efficacy of 2 cost-specific techniques in a single-session intervention for social anxiety. Individuals ( = 61) with elevated social interaction anxiety were randomly assigned to an expressive writing control condition, a cognitive restructuring condition, or a behavioral experiment condition. Results demonstrated that the cognitive restructuring condition produced significantly greater improvement in indices of social anxiety than the other conditions. Reduction in cost bias fully mediated the significantly greater improvement in social interaction anxiety in the cognitive restructuring condition relative to the behavioral experiment condition. The present findings highlight the value of techniques designed to reduce cost biases in social anxiety. Clinical implications are discussed.
认知行为理论表明，焦虑部分是由对恐惧的负面结果的可能性和代价的估计所维持的。社交恐惧症在焦虑症中可能是独特的，因为它的特点是高估了客观上并非灾难性事件（例如，犯下社交失误）的代价。因此，针对代价偏差的治疗方法可能在减轻社交恐惧症症状方面特别有效。本研究在一次社交焦虑干预中检验了两种针对代价的技术的疗效。社交互动焦虑水平较高的个体（n = 61）被随机分配到表达性写作控制组、认知重构组或行为实验组。结果表明，认知重构组在社交焦虑指标上的改善明显大于其他组。相对于行为实验组，代价偏差的减少完全介导了认知重构组在社交互动焦虑方面的显著更大改善。本研究结果突出了旨在减少社交焦虑中代价偏差的技术的价值。并讨论了其临床意义。
