title: Psychological treatment of social anxiety disorder improves body dysmorphic concerns.
abstract: Social anxiety disorder and body dysmorphic disorder are considered nosologically distinct disorders. In contrast, some cognitive models suggest that social anxiety disorder and body dysmorphic disorder share similar cognitive maintenance factors. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of psychological treatments for social anxiety disorder on body dysmorphic disorder concerns. In Study 1, we found that 12 weekly group sessions of cognitive-behavioral therapy led to significant decreases in body dysmorphic symptom severity. In Study 2, we found that an attention retraining intervention for social anxiety disorder was associated with a reduction in body dysmorphic concerns, compared to a placebo control condition. These findings support the notion that psychological treatments for individuals with primary social anxiety disorder improve co-occurring body dysmorphic disorder symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Boston University, Boston, MA, United States. Electronic address: afang@bu.edu.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Alice T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Sawyer
authors.forename: Idan M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Aderka
authors.forename: Stefan G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Hofmann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D057215:Body Dysmorphic Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Attention bias; Body dysmorphic disorder; Cognitive bias modification; Social anxiety disorder