Introduction
Research Problem
The prevalence of social anxiety disorder (SAD) is considered as the most common disorder among the individuals regardless of their age and gender. The individuals with social anxiety are more prone to identifying the social threat at a higher extent and are sensitive to social situations. The high extent of social anxiety can lead towards the more complicated psychological conditions, mainly comprising of suicidal behavior, mood disorders and substance addiction, which eventually affects their academic and professional performance. The individuals with social anxiety tend to have highly dysfunctional personal relationships which also affect their quality of life (Heeren et al., 2012).
It has been inferred that the prevalence of social anxiety disorder affects almost 30% in the United States, which eventually indicates the its contribution to the healthcare cost. The social anxiety order can be treated by using the Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), however, the medication via SSRIs is not considered favorable for the children considering its addictive side effects (Hakamata et al., 2010). The cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is considered to provide long-term positive effects on hindering the social anxiety because it is objectified on determining the extent to which information from the social environment is acquired, interpreted and responded (Heeren et al., 2012).
CBT focuses on determining the antecedents that affect the occurrence of social anxiety in an individual and helps them to cope with its antecedents in an effective manner. The empirical relation between the occurrence of social anxiety with the interpretation of social cues has been proved, which eventually indicates the vast area of research and practice to modify and enhance the interpretation of social cues among the individuals who have social anxiety. The individuals are more prone to encounter with social anxiety when they detect the negative behavior among the audience at a higher level. In this manner, the high attention of individuals towards people increases the threat of social anxiety which eventually decreases their performance and quality of life (Schmidt et al., 2009).
The study conducted by MacLeod et al., (2002) incorporated the experiment in which the participants were provided with the visual cues at a fixed interval and the cues were focused on providing positive, negative and neutral response. The results of the study indicated the prevalence of positive and neutral cues did not incorporate the social anxiety, whereas the participants who were provided with the negative cues were highly prone towards the occurrence of social anxiety. Therefore, it was concluded attentional bias towards the cues that imposed threat induced the occurrence of social anxiety. In this manner, the current study aims to determine the usefulness of attention training as an intervention to reduce the occurrence of social anxiety.
Hypothesis
The current study incorporates the following hypotheses:
Ha1: Attentional Retraining is positively related to the occurrence of social anxiety.
Ha1: Attentional Retraining is positively impacting the individuals with social anxiety.
Population and Sampling
It has been inferred that almost 30% individuals have social anxiety disorder out of which 20% adults and 10% children are prone to this disorder (Hakamata et al., 2010). The participants in the current study were recruited from a renowned social service organization and these participants were observed to have social anxiety disorder. The recruitment of participants took place by convenient sampling, in which the registrar of the social service organization was approached and enlightened with the objective of the current study and hence, the participants with the social anxiety disorder were referred. The total sample was comprised of 30 individuals, who were aged between 20 to 25 years. The participants were single and had no history of extreme suicidal attempts, however, their academic and professional performance was observed to be hindered due their anxiety.
Data Collection
The data were collected via questionnaires in order to determine the extent of social anxiety by using the Social Trait Anxiety Invent0ry (STAI), which was comprised of 20 items and the responses were measured on a 5 point Likert scale that ranged from strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree and strongly disagree.
The participants were provided with the training, in which each participant was provided with the 200 trials which indicated the faces with expressions. In the first phase of training, the faces with a smile or positive response were marked with a red box, whereas the faces were negative response were not marked. In the second phase, the faces were same whereas, the marks were altered and hence, the faces with negative response were marked instead of the positive response. The response of participants, with respect to their identification of positive response was recorded in the second phase was used as a scalar data in order to conduct the statistical test.
Statistical Technique
The current study will use the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21, and will incorporate the following statistical techniques:
Reliability Testing
The Cronbach Alpha is used to determine the reliability of the data by means of predicting the level of consistency among the number of responses. The acceptable value of Alpha ranges from 1 to 0.7. This test is selected is ordered to determine if the results are reliable enough to draw the adequate conclusions by means of their consistency over larger populations.
Pearson Correlation
The Pearson Correlation will be used to determine the prevalence of a linear correlation between the given variables. It will help in identifying the extent to which the variables are interrelated. It will also determine the direction of the relation, i.e. positive or negative and hence, the increasing or decreasing relation between the variables will be identified.
Regression Analysis
The Regression Analysis will be used to determine the linear relation between the variables indicating their dependence or independence. It will help in predicting the extent to which the independent variable, i.e. Attentional Training impacts the social anxiety of the participants.
Findings and Conclusion
The results will indicate that the perceived threat towards the social cues affects the occurrence of social anxiety and hence, with the use of attentional training, the interpretation of these cues can be manipulated to hinder the level social anxiety. The individuals with social anxiety perceive certain facial expressions threatening which eventually increases their social anxiety level. The prevalence of threat and its relatedness can be manipulated by means of making the participants believe that only the facial expressions with red mark are threatening and hence, their interpretation of expressions will change and will result in the positive behavior by means of hindering the level of social anxiety. Therefore, attentional training is suggested to enhance the social resistance among the individuals with social anxiety so that their quality of life can be increased in an effective manner (Schmidt et al., 2009).
References
Hakamata, Y., Lissek, S., Bar-Haim, Y., Britton, J. C., Fox, N. A., Leibenluft, E., & Pine, D. S. (2010). Attention bias modification treatment: a meta-analysis toward the establishment of novel treatment for anxiety. Biological psychiatry, 68(11), 982-990.
Heeren, A., Reese, H. E., McNally, R. J., & Philippot, P. (2012). Attention training toward and away from threat in social phobia: Effects on subjective, behavioral, and physiological measures of anxiety. Behaviour research and therapy, 50(1), 30-39.
MacLeod, C., Rutherford, E., Campbell, L., Ebsworthy, G., & Holker, L. (2002). Selective attention and emotional vulnerability: assessing the causal basis of their association through the experimental manipulation of attentional bias. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 111, 107-123.
Schmidt, N. B., Richey, J. A., Buckner, J. D., & Timpano, K. R. (2009). Attention training for generalized social anxiety disorder. Journal of abnormal psychology, 118(1), 5.
