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Intrusive social images in individuals with high and low social anxiety: a multi-method analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2019

Andrea R. Ashbaugh ,
Keera N. Fishman  and
Stephanie A. Houle-Johnson
Andrea R. Ashbaugh*
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa, Canada
Keera N. Fishman
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa, Canada
Stephanie A. Houle-Johnson
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa, Canada
*
*Corresponding author. Email: andrea.ashbaugh@uottawa.ca
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Abstract

Background:

Models of social anxiety suggest that intrusive images/memories are common in social anxiety and contribute to the maintenance of social anxiety.

Aims:

We examined the context and phenomenological features of intrusive social images using quantitative and qualitative measures across various levels of social anxiety.

Method:

Undergraduate students (n = 191) completed measures of social anxiety (i.e. Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and Social Phobia Scale) and wrote a description of an intrusive social image. Individuals who reported an intrusive social image (n = 77) rated the frequency, interference and phenomenological (e.g. vividness, emotional intensity) characteristics of the image. A content analysis of the intrusive image narratives was completed by independent raters.

Results:

High social anxiety (HSA) increased the likelihood and frequency of experiencing intrusive images, and to some extent the interference caused by these images. However, the characteristics of these images with regard to their content and quality were similar across levels of social anxiety. Among participants who provided narratives, HSA individuals (n = 34) did not differ from low socially anxious (LSA) individuals (n = 28) in themes that reflect concerns about their own thoughts, actions and behaviours. However, HSA individuals reported greater concerns about how other individuals would react, and their intrusive images were often from an observer perspective when compared with LSA individuals.

Conclusions:

These results are interpreted in relation to cognitive models of emotion, memory and cognitive behavioural models of social anxiety.

Keywords

content analysisintrusive imagerysocial anxietyqualitative methods
Type
Main
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 47 , Issue 5 , September 2019 , pp. 594 - 610
Copyright
© British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2019 

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