Psychology Commons^™

The Role Of Engagement Across Conceptually Distinct Treatment Elements For Social Anxiety Disorder, Timothy M. Emge

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

There are currently several efficacious treatments for social anxiety disorder (e.g. exposure therapy and cognitive therapy). Each of these treatments is thought to reduce symptoms of social anxiety by disrupting maintenance mechanisms of the disorder, yet mechanism of change research has not supported this view. The current study compared components from each therapy modality in order to better understand why symptoms reduce similarly between conceptually distinct treatments. Participants with high social anxiety were randomly assigned to give a speech with cognitive restructuring and engagement-enhancing procedures, cognitive preparation and video feedback, or a speech alone. Self-ratings of speech performance, confidence in …