title: Linguistic correlates of social anxiety disorder.
abstract: The goal of this study was to examine the linguistic correlates of social anxiety disorder (SAD). Twenty-four individuals with SAD (8 of them with a generalised subtype) and 21 non-anxious controls were asked to give speeches in front of an audience. The transcribed speeches were examined for the frequency of negations, I-statements, we-statements, negative emotion words, and positive emotion words. During their speech, individuals with either SAD subtype used positive emotion words more often than controls. No significant differences were observed in the other linguistic categories. These results are discussed in the context of evolutionary and cognitive perspectives of SAD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA. shofmann@bu.edu
authors.forename: Stefan G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Hofmann
authors.forename: Philippa M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Cassidy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gutner
authors.forename: Justin W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Weeks
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008037:Linguistics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012919:Social Behavior; D013060:Speech; D055815:Young Adult