Background
People who experience social anxiety feel increased fear and are uncomfortable in social situations. These feelings can become more or less intense, depending on the situation they are in. When someone experiences more intense feelings of discomfort which prevents them from completing daily activities, a doctor may determine that they have social anxiety disorder.
Sometimes our minds take shortcuts in thinking, making us see things less accurately, or judge things incorrectly. A person can correct this by noticing that their mind is making quick and inaccurate judgements, and taking the time to adjust their thinking to be more neutral towards the situation - this is called cognitive bias modification (CBM).
For people with social anxiety, changing this way of thinking can be helpful, but we do not know how well it works compared to other treatments. The goal of this project is to see how effective this treatment is for helping reduce symptoms of social anxiety.
Methods
We will collect and look at studies that judge how well CBM works for people who have social anxiety, and people who are put in social situations that cause them stress. Our main goal is to see any changes in a person’s social anxiety symptoms with CBM, and if this action changes how someone is able to complete daily tasks, their wellbeing, and if they experience any negative effects of CBM. We will combine findings from these studies and compare the experiences of people with social anxiety and people who are put in situations that cause them stress.
This project will be updated every three months as new studies are produced, so we can combine new findings. We will involve individuals with knowledge in this research area, and people who experience social anxiety.
