School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, United States.
Behav Res Ther. 2021 Jun;141:103859. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2021.103859. Epub 2021 Apr 3.
Individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) experience significant interpersonal impairment. However, little is known about the physiological processes that are associated with interpersonal dysfunction in the disorder. In the present study we examined heart-rate (HR) synchrony in SAD during "getting-acquainted" interactions between opposite-sex partners. Participants included 118 individuals who formed 59 dyads: 30 dyads that included one individual with SAD and one non-socially anxious (NSA) individual (SAD dyads) and 29 dyads that included two NSA individuals (control dyads). Dyads were randomly assigned to either a closeness-generating conversation or a small talk conversation. For closeness-generating conversations, we found that social anxiety was positively associated with HR synchrony in control dyads but negatively associated with HR synchrony in SAD dyads. These results remained when controlling for depressive symptoms and participants' movement. Our findings suggest that in more intimate social contexts, SAD may impair the ability to create HR synchrony between interlocuters and this can have negative relational consequences. Our findings are further discussed in the context of cognitive behavioral and interpersonal models of SAD, and clinical and research implications are delineated.
社交焦虑障碍（SAD）患者存在明显的人际功能障碍。然而，目前对于与该障碍人际功能障碍相关的生理过程知之甚少。在本研究中，我们在异性伴侣的“相识”互动期间，研究了 SAD 患者的心率（HR）同步性。参与者包括 118 人，他们组成了 59 对：30 对包括一个 SAD 患者和一个非社交焦虑（NSA）个体（SAD 对），29 对包括两个 NSA 个体（对照对）。对按照随机顺序分配到亲密关系生成对话或闲聊对话中。对于亲密关系生成对话，我们发现社交焦虑与对照组中的 HR 同步性呈正相关，但与 SAD 对中的 HR 同步性呈负相关。在控制抑郁症状和参与者的运动后，这些结果仍然存在。我们的研究结果表明，在更亲密的社交环境中，SAD 可能会损害患者在对话者之间产生 HR 同步性的能力，这可能会产生负面的关系后果。我们的研究结果在 SAD 的认知行为和人际模型的背景下进一步讨论，并阐述了临床和研究意义。
