The Role of Mental Imagery on Approach Motivation and Behavioral Engagement in Social Anxiety

NCT07009444 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: DARE
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 136
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Efficacy of an online intervention aimed at enhancing both approach motivation and behavioral engagement in facing anxiety-provoking social situations among individuals with heightened social anxiety is investigated. Upon receiving psychoeducation, participants will either undergo a prospective mental-imagery task or no additional task. The intervention's efficacy will be assessed by ratings of experienced and expected pleasure, approach motivation as well as self-reported engagement with feared situation one week later.

Conditions

Social Anxiety; Social Phobia

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (5)

• Anticipatory Pleasure

  2-item questionnaire on a scale 0 (not at all) to 100 (extremely) assessing current pleasure when imaging approaching and having approached the feared situation.

  Baseline (prior to the assigned intervention) and immediately post-intervention (following prospective mental imagery or psychoeducation)

• Anticipated Pleasure

  2-item questionnaire on a scale 0 (not at all) to 100 (extremely) assessing expected pleasure when approaching and having approached the feared situation.

  Baseline (prior to the assigned intervention) and immediately post-intervention (following prospective mental imagery or psychoeducation)

• Reward Anticipation

  2-item questionnaire on a scale 0 (not at all) to 100 (extremely) assessing expected reward related to approaching and having approached the feared situation.

  Baseline (prior to the assigned intervention) and immediately post-intervention (following prospective mental imagery or psychoeducation)

• Motivation

  Self-reported motivation to approach the feared situation on a scale of 0 (not at all) to 100 (extremely).

  Baseline (prior to the assigned intervention) and immediately post-intervention (following prospective mental imagery or psychoeducation)

• Frequency of Exposure

  Self-reported frequency of exposure to the feared situation. Scale: 0 to 10, indicating the frequency of exposure to the feared situation.

  Post-treatment (i.e., 7 days after baseline)

Secondary Outcomes (7)

• Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN)

  Change from baseline to post-treatment (i.e., 7 days)

• Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS)

  Change from baseline to post-treatment (i.e., 7 days)

• Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)

  Change from baseline to post-treatment (i.e., 7 days)

• Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS)

  Change from baseline to post-treatment (i.e., 7 days)

• BIS/BAS Scales

  Baseline

Study Arms (2)

Psychoeducation + Prospective Mental-Imagery Task

EXPERIMENTAL

Prospective mental imagery of post-exposure experience

Behavioral: Psychoeducation; Behavioral: Prospective Mental Imagery

Psychoeducation

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Behavioral: Psychoeducation

Interventions

Psychoeducation BEHAVIORAL

Providing information about social anxiety, role of safety and avoidance behaviors in maintaining social anxiety, rationale for exposure to feared social situations

Psychoeducation; Psychoeducation + Prospective Mental-Imagery Task

Prospective Mental Imagery BEHAVIORAL

A standard imagination script is recounted in which participants have successfully mastered the socially feared situation

Psychoeducation + Prospective Mental-Imagery Task

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Elevated score on Mini-Social Phobia Inventory (Mini-SPIN) \> 6

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Philipps University Marburg: lead

Study Sites (1)

Germany Philipps University

Marburg, 35037, Germany

Location

Related Publications (4)

• Hallford DJ, Farrell H, Lynch E. Increasing anticipated and anticipatory pleasure through episodic thinking. Emotion. 2022 Jun;22(4):690-700. doi: 10.1037/emo0000765. Epub 2020 Jun 18.

  PMID: 32551746 BACKGROUND

• Renner F, Werthmann J, Paetsch A, Bar HE, Heise M, Bruijniks SJE. Prospective Mental Imagery in Depression: Impact on Reward Processing and Reward-Motivated Behaviour. Clin Psychol Eur. 2021 Jun 18;3(2):e3013. doi: 10.32872/cpe.3013. eCollection 2021 Jun.

  PMID: 36397959 BACKGROUND

• Renner F, Murphy FC, Ji JL, Manly T, Holmes EA. Mental imagery as a "motivational amplifier" to promote activities. Behav Res Ther. 2019 Mar;114:51-59. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2019.02.002. Epub 2019 Feb 5.

  PMID: 30797989 BACKGROUND

• Ji JL, Geiles D, Saulsman LM. Mental imagery-based episodic simulation amplifies motivation and behavioural engagement in planned reward activities. Behav Res Ther. 2021 Oct;145:103947. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2021.103947. Epub 2021 Aug 15.

  PMID: 34433114 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Phobia, Social

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Phobic Disorders; Anxiety Disorders; Mental Disorders

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: May 14, 2025
• First Posted: June 6, 2025
• Study Start: July 18, 2023
• Primary Completion: November 25, 2023
• Study Completion: November 25, 2023
• Last Updated: January 9, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-01

Locations

DE (1)