A Pilot Study of Loving-Kindness Meditation for Social Anxiety Disorder

NCT03070587 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 001
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 80
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to develop and test a mindfulness and loving-kindness based intervention, Positive Affect Training (PAT), to enhance positive affect such as compassion, love, and gratitude and reduce symptoms of social anxiety disorder (SAD). PAT involves a combination of practicing mindfulness meditation and loving kindness meditation in groups. Although PAT has been shown to be effective for dysthymic disorder, one area that remains unclear is whether the PAT protocol for SAD can address the social anxiety symptoms in Japanese adults with SAD. The goal of the research is to test the initial feasibility and efficacy in increasing positive affect and decreasing negative affect in individuals recruited from the general community who are social anxious. If PAT is also effective for Japanese SAD patients, it could be more cost-effective and noninvasive option to address social anxiety disorder.

Conditions

Social Anxiety Disorder; Compassion

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change from Baseline in the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS)

  The LSAS assesses fear/anxiety and avoidance across social interaction and performance situations. Higher scores indicate greater social anxiety severity.

  Baseline, 12 weeks, and 6 months

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Change from Baseline in Self-Compassion Scale (SCS)

  Baseline, 12 weeks, and 6 months

• Change from Baseline in Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS)

  Baseline, 12 weeks, and 6 months

• Change from Baseline in the Dispositional Positive Emotion Scales (DPES)

  Baseline, 12 weeks, and 6 months

Study Arms (2)

Positive Affect Training for SAD

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants randomized to the intervention arm will receive Positive Affect Training, a 12-week face-to-face group loving-kindness meditation program. The groups will meet once a week for 12 successive weeks, and each session will be approximately 60 minutes long. Each group will include approximately 4-6 participants and will be led by two trained facilitators/therapists. Participants will also be asked to complete approximately 30 minutes of daily home practice using recorded guided meditations and informal practice assignments.

Behavioral: Positive Affect Training for SAD

Wait-list Control

NO INTERVENTION

Participants randomized to the waitlist control arm will receive no study intervention during the 12-week waiting period. After completing the post-waitlist assessment, they will be offered the same 12-week face-to-face group loving-kindness meditation program as the intervention arm.

Interventions

Positive Affect Training for SAD BEHAVIORAL

The PAT-S protocol will teach the participants the basics of mindfulness and how to be aware of their physical sensation, thoughts, and emotion at present moment by a nonjudgmental way in breathing, standing, or eating. After two mindfulness sessions, lovingkindness meditation (LKM) will be introduced. The participants will be taught to identify and focus the positive feelings such as gratitude, love, kindness, peacefulness, or friendliness when they wish their benefactor and beloved ones who they feel grateful or respectful, and transfer these feelings first to themselves, then to a neutral individual, to people whom they dislike, and finally to all living beings.

Positive Affect Training for SAD

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 20 Years - 70 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Age 20 years or older.
• Positive response to the recruitment question: "Have you been feeling anxious or distressed in social situations?"
• Meets DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for Social Anxiety Disorder based on the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 Disorders (SCID-5).
• Social Anxiety Disorder is the primary diagnosis.
• Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) total score of 30 or higher.

You may not qualify if:

• Current risk of self-harm or suicide, assessed by clinical interview and the suicide item of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II).
• Current or past psychiatric disorders that may impose a safety risk, such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia spectrum disorders, or other psychotic disorders, as assessed by the SCID-5.
• Current psychiatric or psychological treatment for any psychological disorder at the time of assessment.
• Initiation of psychiatric or psychological treatment during the study; such participants will be monitored and may be excluded from sensitivity analyses.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Komazawa University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Kwansei Gakuin University

Nishinomiya, Hyōgo, 662-8501, Japan

Location

Related Publications (3)

• Hofmann SG, Petrocchi N, Steinberg J, Lin M, Arimitsu K, Kind S, Mendes A, Stangier U. Loving-Kindness Meditation to Target Affect in Mood Disorders: A Proof-of-Concept Study. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2015;2015:269126. doi: 10.1155/2015/269126. Epub 2015 Jun 1.

  PMID: 26136807 BACKGROUND

• Hofmann SG, Grossman P, Hinton DE. Loving-kindness and compassion meditation: potential for psychological interventions. Clin Psychol Rev. 2011 Nov;31(7):1126-32. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2011.07.003. Epub 2011 Jul 26.

  PMID: 21840289 BACKGROUND

• Arimitsu K, Hofmann SG. Effects of compassionate thinking on negative emotions. Cogn Emot. 2017 Jan;31(1):160-167. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2015.1078292. Epub 2015 Sep 11.

  PMID: 26362245 BACKGROUND

Related Links

• The detailed information web-site

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Phobia, Social

Interventions

Sagittal Abdominal Diameter

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Phobic Disorders; Anxiety Disorders; Mental Disorders

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Body Size; Body Weights and Measures; Body Constitution; Physical Examination; Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures; Diagnosis; Anthropometry; Investigative Techniques; Physiological Phenomena

Study Officials

• Kohki Arimitsu, Ph.D.

  Kwansei Gakuin University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: INVESTIGATOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 28, 2017
• First Posted: March 3, 2017
• Study Start: December 1, 2016
• Primary Completion: June 1, 2020
• Study Completion: September 1, 2022
• Last Updated: August 28, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-08

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

JP (1)