Category: Adult Anxiety
Kati Lear, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
Portland Psychotherapy Clinic, Research, and Training Center
Sacramento, California
David Moscovitch, Ph.D. (he/him/his)
Professor of Psychology
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Kati Lear, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
Portland Psychotherapy Clinic, Research, and Training Center
Sacramento, California
Jolie T.K. Ho, M.A., M.S. (she/her/hers)
PhD Student
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Kamila Szczyglowski, M.A. (she/her/hers)
Graduate Student
Wilfrid Laurier University
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Elizabeth Slivjak, M.A.
Doctoral Candidate in Clinical Psychology
University of Colorado Boulder
Boulder, Colorado
Joanna Arch, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
Associate Professor
University of Colorado Boulder
Boulder, Colorado
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a prevalent psychological disorder that affects as much as 4% of the global population over the lifespan (Stein et al., 2017) and is associated with significant functional impairment, chronic avoidance of social interactions, and a negative self-concept. Research suggests that self-critical processing, biased negative self-focused attention, and behavioral avoidance of situations that could cause shame or embarrassment contribute to maintaining SAD (Wong & Rapee, 2016). Self-compassion (SC) interventions have shown promise in improving SAD. SC involves treating oneself with kindness and understanding, which can facilitate adaptive emotion regulation and reduce cognitive and behavioral avoidance strategies (Neff, 2023). SAD is related to lower trait SC and increased fear of receiving compassion from others (Werner et al., 2012; Merritt & Purdon, 2020). Studies have shown that SC inductions reduce state anxiety and physiological stress and decrease self-critical post-event processing and unwillingness to engage in social situations (Arch et al., 2018; Blackie & Kocovski, 2017; Blackie & Kocovski, 2018). Further research is needed to explore how people with SAD use and respond to compassion at the state level, as well as the unique processes through which SC may improve SAD symptoms.
This symposium covers research that spans community and college student populations in the U.S. and Canada and employs longitudinal, experimental, and systematic review designs to examine two themes: a) how individuals with social anxiety employ and respond to compassion in response to stressful social situations, and b) the effects of brief interventions aimed to foster SC on indices of well-being, such as positive affect, and social anxiety severity. Findings presented in this symposium align with the conference theme “Cultivating Joy”, as SC interventions aim to enhance well-being and are associated with a host of positive psychological outcomes (e.g., Allen & Leary, 2010) beyond reducing psychopathology.
The first speaker presents a 2-week intensive longitudinal study on the relations between social anxiety severity, shame, and SC following stressful social situations in daily life. The second speaker reports on laboratory data on the influence of trait social anxiety severity and fear of receiving compassion on emotional reactions to compassionate feedback following a social blunder. The third speaker discusses results from an experimental study showing that a brief SC induction enhances positive affect and reduces desire for social avoidance when reflecting on a stressful social situation. The fourth speaker will present preliminary data from a randomized controlled trial on the efficacy of compassion-enhanced exposure therapy among socially anxious college students. The fifth speaker will present a recent scoping review on the efficacy of SC interventions for SAD, summarizing the evidence base, applications with diverse populations, and identifying necessary areas for future research. Finally, an expert in the field of theory and intervention research will discuss cross-cutting themes, critique the findings presented, explore future directions, and highlight considerations for implementation.
