Learning to re-appraise the self during video feedback for social anxiety: Does depth of processing matter?
Video feedback (VF) with cognitive preparation (CP) has been widely integrated into cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) protocols for social anxiety disorder (SAD) due to its presumed efficacy in improving negative self-perception. However, previous experimental studies have demonstrated that improvements in negative self-perception via VF+CP do not typically facilitate anxiety reduction during subsequent social interactions - a troubling finding for proponents of cognitive models of social anxiety. We examined whether VF+CP could be optimized to enhance participants' processing of corrective self-related information through the addition of a post-VF cognitive review (CR). Sixty-eight socially anxious individuals were randomly assigned to perform two public speeches in one of the following conditions: a) exposure alone (EXP); b) CP+VF; and c) CP+VF+CR. Those in the CP+VF+CR condition demonstrated marginally significant reductions in anxiety from speech 1 to speech 2 relative to those who received EXP - an improvement not shown for those in the CP+VF condition. Furthermore, only those who received CP+VF+CR demonstrated significant improvements in self-perception and performance expectations relative to EXP. Decreases in anxiety among participants who received CP+VF+CR relative to EXP were fully mediated by improvements in self-perception. Implications are discussed in the context of cognitive models of social anxiety and mechanisms of exposure-based learning.
Orr
Elizabeth M J
EM
Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave. West, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1. eorr@uwaterloo.ca
Moscovitch
David A
DA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D056228:Feedback, Sensory; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D014743:Videotape Recording / Q000379:methods*