Self-help Books for Social Anxiety

NCT03297619 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 8694
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 109
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this study is to compare the efficacy and mechanisms of change of two self-help books for social anxiety in college students in a randomized controlled trial. One book is based on traditional cognitive behavioral therapy and one is based on acceptance and commitment therapy. This study will test the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: The CBT and ACT book conditions will both experience decreased social anxiety and distress. Life satisfaction and values progress will increase in both conditions. Hypothesis 2: The CBT condition will result in greater use of reappraisal, the ACT condition will not. Hypothesis 3: The ACT condition will result in greater use of defusion and decreased psychological inflexibility; the CBT condition will not. Hypothesis 4: Changes in experiential avoidance and defusion will predict changes in social anxiety and values progress in the ACT condition. Hypothesis 5: Changes in reappraisal will predict changes in social anxiety in the CBT condition. Change in values progress will be predicted by change in social anxiety in the CBT condition. Hypothesis 6: The association between social anxiety/negative affect and values progress will decrease or disappear in the ACT condition (i.e., decoupling), and remain the same in the CBT condition.

Conditions

Social Anxiety

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale - Self Report (Fresco et al., 2001)

  A self-report measure of fear and avoidance of social situations.

  Posttreatment (9 weeks after baseline)

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• General Health Questionnaire-12 (Banks et al., 1980; Goldberg, 1978)

  Baseline, midtreatment (5 weeks after baseline), and posttreatment (9 weeks after baseline)

• Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Satisfaction with Social Roles And Activities Short Form 8 v2.0 (Hahn et al., 2014)

  Baseline, midtreatment (5 weeks after baseline), and posttreatment (9 weeks after baseline)

• Valuing Questionnaire - Progress subscale (Smout, Davies, Burns, & Christie, 2014)

  Baseline, midtreatment (5 weeks after baseline), and posttreatment (9 weeks after baseline)

Other Outcomes (4)

• Believability of Anxious Feelings and Thoughts Questionnaire (Herzberg et al., 2012)

  Baseline, midtreatment (5 weeks after baseline), and posttreatment (9 weeks after baseline)

• Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (Gillanders et al., 2014)

  Baseline, midtreatment (5 weeks after baseline), and posttreatment (9 weeks after baseline)

• Appraisal of Social Concerns Scale (Telch et al., 2004)

  Baseline, midtreatment (5 weeks after baseline), and posttreatment (9 weeks after baseline)

Study Arms (2)

ACT self-help book condition

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants in this condition will be assigned to read The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Social Anxiety and Shyness by Fleming and Kocovski (2013), a self-help book based on acceptance and commitment therapy.

Behavioral: Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Social Anxiety and Shyness

CBT self-help book condition

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants in this condition will be assigned to read The Shyness and Social Anxiety Workbook by Antony and Swinson (2008), a self-help book based on cognitive-behavioral therapy for social anxiety.

Behavioral: The Shyness and Social Anxiety Workbook

Interventions

Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Social Anxiety and Shyness BEHAVIORAL

Participants assigned to this condition will be asked to read this self-help book over an 8-week period.

ACT self-help book condition

The Shyness and Social Anxiety Workbook BEHAVIORAL

Participants assigned to this condition will be asked to read this self-help book over an 8-week period (with some chapters omitted).

CBT self-help book condition

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• Age 18 or older
• Enrolled at Utah State University
• Have not participated in other self-help studies run by the USU CBS Lab
• Interested in using self-help book for social anxiety
• Scoring at least a 6 on the Mini Social Phobia Inventory (Mini-SPIN), a validated social anxiety screening measure

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Utah State University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Utah State University

Logan, Utah, 84322, United States

Location

Related Publications (14)

• Connor KM, Kobak KA, Churchill LE, Katzelnick D, Davidson JR. Mini-SPIN: A brief screening assessment for generalized social anxiety disorder. Depress Anxiety. 2001;14(2):137-40. doi: 10.1002/da.1055.

  PMID: 11668666 BACKGROUND

• Antony, M. M., & Swinson, R. P. (2008). The shyness and social anxiety workbook. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

  BACKGROUND

• Fleming, J. E., & Kocovski, N. L. (2013). The mindfulness and acceptance workbook for social anxiety and shyness. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

  BACKGROUND

• Abramowitz JS, Moore EL, Braddock AE, Harrington DL. Self-help cognitive-behavioral therapy with minimal therapist contact for social phobia: a controlled trial. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2009 Mar;40(1):98-105. doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2008.04.004. Epub 2008 Apr 26.

  PMID: 18514614 BACKGROUND

• Fresco DM, Coles ME, Heimberg RG, Liebowitz MR, Hami S, Stein MB, Goetz D. The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale: a comparison of the psychometric properties of self-report and clinician-administered formats. Psychol Med. 2001 Aug;31(6):1025-35. doi: 10.1017/s0033291701004056.

  PMID: 11513370 BACKGROUND

• Banks, M. H., Clegg, C. W., Jackson, P. R., Kemp, N. J., Stafford, E. M., & Wall, T. D. (1980). The use of the General Health Questionnaire as an indicator of mental health in occupational studies. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 53, 187-194.

  BACKGROUND

• Goldberg, D. (1978). Manual of the GHQ. Windsor: NFER.

  BACKGROUND

• Hahn EA, DeWalt DA, Bode RK, Garcia SF, DeVellis RF, Correia H, Cella D; PROMIS Cooperative Group. New English and Spanish social health measures will facilitate evaluating health determinants. Health Psychol. 2014 May;33(5):490-9. doi: 10.1037/hea0000055. Epub 2014 Jan 20.

  PMID: 24447188 BACKGROUND

• Smout, M., Davies, M., Burns, N., & Christie, A. (2014). Development of the Valuing Questionnaire (VQ). Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 3, 164-172. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2014.06.001

  BACKGROUND

• Herzberg KN, Sheppard SC, Forsyth JP, Crede M, Earleywine M, Eifert GH. The Believability of Anxious Feelings and Thoughts Questionnaire (BAFT): a psychometric evaluation of cognitive fusion in a nonclinical and highly anxious community sample. Psychol Assess. 2012 Dec;24(4):877-91. doi: 10.1037/a0027782. Epub 2012 Apr 9.

  PMID: 22486595 BACKGROUND

• Gillanders DT, Bolderston H, Bond FW, Dempster M, Flaxman PE, Campbell L, Kerr S, Tansey L, Noel P, Ferenbach C, Masley S, Roach L, Lloyd J, May L, Clarke S, Remington B. The development and initial validation of the cognitive fusion questionnaire. Behav Ther. 2014 Jan;45(1):83-101. doi: 10.1016/j.beth.2013.09.001. Epub 2013 Sep 18.

  PMID: 24411117 BACKGROUND

• Schultz LT, Heimberg RG, Rodebaugh TL, Schneier FR, Liebowitz MR, Telch MJ. The appraisal of social concerns scale: psychometric validation with a clinical sample of patients with social anxiety disorder. Behav Ther. 2006 Dec;37(4):392-405. doi: 10.1016/j.beth.2006.06.001. Epub 2006 Aug 4.

  PMID: 17071216 BACKGROUND

• Telch MJ, Lucas RA, Smits JA, Powers MB, Heimberg R, Hart T. Appraisal of social concerns: a cognitive assessment instrument for social phobia. Depress Anxiety. 2004;19(4):217-24. doi: 10.1002/da.20004.

  PMID: 15274170 BACKGROUND

• Goldin PR, Morrison AS, Jazaieri H, Heimberg RG, Gross JJ. Trajectories of social anxiety, cognitive reappraisal, and mindfulness during an RCT of CBGT versus MBSR for social anxiety disorder. Behav Res Ther. 2017 Oct;97:1-13. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2017.06.001. Epub 2017 Jun 3.

  PMID: 28654771 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Interventions

Mindfulness

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Behavior Therapy; Psychotherapy; Behavioral Disciplines and Activities

Study Officials

• Michael Levin, PhD

  Utah State University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor

Model Details: Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two active self-help interventions for the duration of the study.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 13, 2017
• First Posted: September 29, 2017
• Study Start: September 16, 2017
• Primary Completion: January 2, 2019
• Study Completion: January 2, 2019
• Last Updated: November 13, 2019

Record last verified: 2019-11

Locations

US (1)