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Abstract: The current study examined aspects of communication and intimacy between people with social phobia and their romantic partners. Forty-eight individuals with social phobia and 58 community controls completed a series of questionnaires to measure self-disclosure, emotional expression and levels of intimacy within their romantic relationships. Participants with social phobia reported less emotional expression, self-disclosure and intimacy than controls, even after controlling for a diagnosis of mood disorder. The group differences did not differ significantly by gender. A continuous measure of social anxiety also correlated significantly with the three relationship measures and these associations held for emotional expression and self-disclosure after controlling for levels of dysphoria. People with social phobia report reduced quality within their romantic relationships, which may have implications for impairment, social support and ultimately maintenance of the disorder. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Catastrophic interpretations of negative social events are considered to be an important factor underlying social phobia. This study investigated the extent to which these interpretative biases change during cognitive-behavioural treatment for social phobia, and examined whether within-treatment changes in different types of interpretations predict longer-term treatment outcome. Results showed that treatment was associated with decreases in various types of maladaptive interpretations of negative social events, but that social phobia symptoms 3 months after treatment were independently predicted only by within- treatment reductions in the degree to which individuals personally believed that negative social events were indicative of unfavourable self-characteristics. These findings are discussed in relation to cognitive models of the maintenance of social anxiety, and implications for treatment are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Transdiagnostic interventions present pragmatic benefits in treatment dissemination and training of mental health professionals when faced with emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression. Excessive worry is a common feature across emotional disorders and represents an ideal candidate target for transdiagnostic intervention. The current pilot trial examined the efficacy of a behavioural activation treatment for worry (BAW) in a community population. 49 individuals experiencing excessive worry were randomised to waitlist or BAW receiving an 8 week group based intervention. Results demonstrated that BAW was successful in reducing excessive worry, depressive symptoms, cognitive avoidance, Intolerance of Uncertainty and improving problem solving orientation. Twice as many individuals showed clinically significant reductions in excessive worry after treatment compared to the waitlist control. Despite limitations to sample size and power, this study presents promising support for BAW as a practical transdiagnostic treatment for worry. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Novel theoretical frameworks place the symptom profile of generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) within the context of dysfunctional emotional processes. It is suggested that fear and intolerance of emotions exacerbate subjective distress and motivate the use of maladaptive coping strategies, such as worry. To date, studies evaluating these models have suffered two key limitations. Firstly, few studies have involved treatment-seeking samples, and secondly, none have evaluated the unique variance attributable to emotion appraisal variables above and beyond previously established predictors of worry and GAD. The present study begins to address these limitations by assessing the contribution of fear and perceived uncontrollability of emotions in predicting worry and clinical GAD status after controlling for variance attributable to depressive symptoms, meta-cognitive beliefs, intolerance of uncertainty, and perceptions of external threat. Supporting current models, results showed that perceived control over emotional reactions was a unique predictor of GAD diagnostic status and both clinical and non-clinical worry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Interpretation biases towards threat play a prominent role in cognitive theories of anxiety, and have been identified amongst highly anxious adults and children. Little is known, however, about the development of these cognitive biases although family processes have been implicated. The current study investigated the nature of threat interpretation of anxious children and their mothers through (i) comparison of a clinic and non-clinic population, (ii) analysis of individual differences; and (iii) pre- and post-treatment comparisons. Participants were 27 children with a primary anxiety disorder and 33 children from a non-clinic population and their mothers. Children and mothers completed self-report measures of anxiety and indicated their most likely interpretation of ambiguous scenarios. Clinic and non-clinical groups differed significantly on measures of threat interpretation. Furthermore, mothers’ and children''s threat interpretation correlated significantly. Following treatment for child anxiety, both children and their mothers reported a reduction in threat interpretation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]