Development of an attention-focused treatment program for social anxiety disorder: Elucidation of the essential role of self-focused attention.

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K21009
• Project/Area Number (Other): 18H05817 (2018)
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund (2019); Single-year Grants (2018)
• Review Section: 0110:Psychology and related fields
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: Tomita Nozomi 早稲田大学, 人間科学学術院, 講師(任期付) (30823364)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-08-24 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 社交不安症 / 自己注目 / 注意バイアス / メタ認知療法 / 注意訓練法 / メタ認知的信念

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We conducted intervention studies, surveys, and experimental studies focusing on self-focused attention, which is a factor that maintains social anxiety.
In the first study, we created an attention training technique (ATT), with sound stimuli that induced self-focused attention (SFA), and compared the effects with standard ATT. Although the fear of social situations decreased in both groups, the diminution level in the SFA-ATT group was larger than that of the standard ATT group.
In the second study, we investigated the effects of the intervention on the metacognitive beliefs about focused attention toward social anxiety. The result showed that positive and negative metacognitive beliefs were significantly reduced, which had clear effects on social anxiety.

Free Research Field

臨床心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

研究成果によって、自己注目への効果的な介入法が示唆され、特に注意に関するメタ認知的信念を修正することで社交不安症状が大きく改善することが示された点で学術的・社会的意義があると考えている。また、縦断調査の実施に加えて、生態学的経時的評価法 (EMA)によって社交不安症状と自己注目の関係性を日常生活の文脈から具体的に示すことができた点も、自己注目の本質的理解を深める上で学術的意義があると考えている。