Mindfulness and Acceptance-Based Treatments for Social Anxiety: Defusion App

This study evaluates a self-help app in the treatment of shyness and social anxiety in adults. All participants will be assigned to the treatment group. It is expected that using this app will result in a reduction in social anxiety.

Over 2 million Canadians have suffered from social anxiety disorder (SAD) at some point in their lives. This disorder is characterized by a strong fear of negative evaluation in social situations and is associated with significant impairment in social interactions, educational/occupational achievement, and life satisfaction. Despite the fact that efficacious treatments have been developed and evaluated, both treatment effectiveness and treatment seeking behaviour remain below optimal levels. Combined with the many barriers to treatment (i.e., cost, stigma, access), researchers are investigating self-help modalities as an alternative to conventional psychotherapy. The Defusion App is based on content from Fleming & Kocovski's (2013) self-help book "The Mindfulness & Acceptance Workbook for Social Anxiety & Shyness." Specifically, the app teaches users about the tendency of socially anxious individuals to fuse with their anxious thoughts (i.e., cognitive fusion), and strategies to reduce it. In this experimental research study, a smartphone app designed to help with social anxiety and shyness will be evaluated for both effectiveness and frequency of use. The objectives will be to determine whether participants use the app, and whether use of the app is associated with a reduction in social anxiety. Preliminary evidence has indicated that smartphone apps for mental health are associated with promising results. It is expected that the use of the app in the present research will be associated with reductions in social anxiety symptom severity and a greater use of cognitive defusion strategies. The participants will be a community sample of individuals interested in seeking help with social anxiety and shyness as recruited by the use of posters around the Wilfrid Laurier University campus and in the community, as well as online.

Self-reported social anxiety scores. Each item is scored 0 (not at all ) to 4 (extremely) yielding a total between 0 and 80.

Self-reported social anxiety scores. Each item is scored 0 (not at all ) to 4 (extremely) yielding a total between 0 and 80.

Self-reported cognitive fusion scores. Each item is scored 1 (never true ) to 7 (always true) yielding a total between 7 and 49.

Self-reported believability of anxious feelings and thoughts scores. Each item is scored 1 (not at all believable) to 7 (completely believable) yielding a total between 16 and 112.

Self-reported decentering scores. Each item is rated from 1 (never) to 5 (all the time) yielding a total between 20 and 100.

Self-reported acceptance of social anxiety scores. Each item is rated from 1 (never true) to 5 (always true) yielding a total between 1 and 56..

Self-reported readiness to change ruler. Participants indicate the degree to which they are ready to change on a visual analogue scale ranging from 0 (not prepared to change) to 10 (already changing).

Inclusion Criteria: must be seeking help for shyness/social anxiety must own a smartphone Exclusion Criteria: none