Social anxiety disorder (also known as social phobia) is a condition that affects about 2-7% of the population in the United States. As its name suggests, the psychiatric disorder is characterized by the experience of fear and anxiety during normal social interactions.
According to a study published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology in 2009, using a computerized attention modification program may be an effective way to help treat this condition.
The study tested the effects of computerized attention training on twenty-two participants diagnosed with generalized social phobia.
The attention training consisted of a computer program that was designed to routinely redirect the participants attention away from pictures of socially threatening faces.
“A large body of literature shows that social anxious individuals pay particular attention to threatening social information, including anxiety-related sensations and behaviors and signs of disapproval from others,” as the authors of the study explain.
The computer program first displayed a small fixation cross in the center of the screen, which the participant was required to focus his or her eyes on. After briefly focusing on the cross, it disappeared and was replaced with two pictures of human faces, with one picture above the other. One of these faces had a neutral expression, while the other face had a disgusted expression. After a few moments, the faces disappeared and the letter “E” or “F” appeared where the neutral face had been. At this point, the participant was required to identify what letter appeared on the screen.
This process required the participant to shift his or her visual attention away from the disgusted face and towards the position of the neutral face.
Each participant repeated this process 160 times per session for a total of eight sessions.
Another twenty-two participants completed a similar computerized program that did focused attention away from disgusted faces half the time and away from neutral faces the other half of the time. These participants were used as the control group.
After a four month follow up, the study found that “participants who completed the [attention modification program] were significantly less socially anxious and less functionally impaired than the [control group.]”
In addition, 50% of those who completed the computerized attention training no longer met the criteria for a diagnosis of generalized social phobia at the time of the follow up, compared to 14% of the participants in the control group.
Reference:
Amir, N., Beard, C., Taylor, C.T., Klumpp, H., Elias, J., Burns, M. & Chen, X. (2009). Attention training in individuals with generalized social phobia: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol 77, No 5: 961-973.
