We conducted a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial to examine the efficacy of an attention training procedure in reducing symptoms of social anxiety in forty-four individuals diagnosed with Generalized Social Phobia (GSP). Attention training comprised a probe detection task where pictures of faces with either a threatening or neutral emotional expression cued different locations on the computer screen. In the Attention Modification Program (AMP), participants responded to a probe that always followed neutral faces when paired with a threatening face, thereby directing attention away from threat. In the Attention Control Condition (ACC), the probe appeared with equal frequency in the position of the threat and neutral faces. Results revealed that the AMP facilitated attention disengagement from threat from pre- to post-assessment, and reduced clinician- and self-reported symptoms of social anxiety relative to the ACC. Participants no longer meeting DSM-IV criteria for GSP at post-assessment were 50% in the AMP and 14% in the ACC. Symptom reduction in the AMP group was maintained during four-month follow-up assessment. These results suggest that computerized attention training procedures may be beneficial for treating social phobia.

Research suggests that individuals with social anxiety show an attention bias for threat-relevant information However, few studies have directly manipulated attention to examine its effect on anxiety. In the current article, the authors tested the hypothesis that an attention modification program would be effective in reducing anxiety response and improving performance on a public-speaking challenge. Socially anxious participants completed a probe detection task by identifying letters (E or F) replacing one member of a pair of faces (neutral or disgust). The authors trained attention by including a contingency between the location of the neutral face and the probe in one group (Attention Modification Program; AMP). Participants in the AMP group showed significantly less attention bias to threat after training and lower levels of anxiety in response to a public-speaking challenge than did the participants in the Attention Control Condition (ACC) group. Moreover, blind raters judged the speeches of those in the AMP group as better than those in the ACC group. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that attention plays a causal role in the maintenance of social anxiety.

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Background: Research suggests that the positive affect system may be an important yet

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Objective At least three randomized, placebo controlled, double blind studies support the efficacy of computerized Attention Modification Programs (AMP) in reducing symptoms of anxiety in patients diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. In this study we examined patient characteristics that predicted response to AMP in a large sample of individuals diagnosed with Generalized Social Phobia (GSP). Method The sample comprised 112 individuals seeking treatment for GSP who completed a randomized clinical trial comparing AMP (n = 55) to a placebo condition (i.e., Attention Control Condition, ACC, n = 57). We examined the following domains of baseline predictors of treatment response: (1) demographic characteristics (gender, age, ethnicity, years of education), (2) clinical characteristics (Axis I comorbidity, trait anxiety, depression), and (3) cognitive disturbance factors (attentional bias for social threat, social interpretation bias). Results Results revealed that ethnicity predicted treatment response across both conditions: Participants who self-identified as non-Caucasian displayed better overall response compared to Caucasians. The only prescriptive variable to emerge was attentional bias for social threat at pre-assessment. Specifically, participants in the AMP group who exhibited larger attentional bias scores displayed significantly greater reductions in clinician-rated social anxiety symptoms relative to their counterparts in the ACC group. Conclusions These results suggest that AMP may be targeted to individuals most likely to benefit from it.

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