Anxiety Research

Incongruent gestures slow the processing of facial expressions in university students with social anxiety

In recent years, an increasing number of studies have examined the mechanisms underlying nonverbal emotional information processing in people with high social anxiety (HSA). However, most of these studies have focused on the processing of facial expressions, and there has been scarce research on gesture or even face-gesture combined processing in HSA individuals. The present study explored the processing characteristics and mechanism of the interaction between gestures and facial expressions in people with HSA and low social anxiety (LSA). The present study recruited university students as participants and used the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale scores to distinguish the HSA and LSA groups. We used a 2 (group: HSA and LSA) × 2 (emotion valence: positive, negative) × 2 (task: face, gesture) multifactor mixed design, and videos of a single face or gesture and combined face-gesture cues were used as stimuli. We found that (1) there is a distinction in the processing of faces and gestures, with individuals recognizing gestures faster than faces; (2) there is an attentional enhancement in the processing of gestures, particularly for negative gestures; and (3) when the emotional valence of faces and gestures align, it facilitates the recognition of both. However, incongruent gestures have a stronger impact on the processing of facial expressions compared to facial expressions themselves, suggesting that the processing of facial emotions is more influenced by environmental cues provided by gestures. These findings indicated that gestures played an important role in emotional processing, and facial emotional processing was more dependent on the environmental cues derived from gestures, which helps to clarify the reasons for biases in the interpretation of emotional information in people with HSA.

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Anxiety and the Brain: The Forebrain’s Role in Social Decisions Unveiled

Researchers discovered that anxious individuals utilize a less optimal region of the forebrain when navigating socially challenging situations compared to their non-anxious counterparts. This was determined through brain scans that mapped regions active during simulated social scenarios.

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Conquering Worry with Increased Educational Attainment

This study revealed that higher levels of educational attainment were linked to a reduced likelihood of anxiety symptoms, independent of sociodemographic and health-related factors. Interestingly, this association reached a plateau at the first stage of tertiary education. Notably, this effect was more pronounced in females, middle-aged individuals, and in Central and Eastern Europe, while it

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Effects of Music Combined With Sports Games on Alleviating Psychological Stress, Anxiety and Mental Energy Among Adolescents During COVID-19 Pandemic in Lanzhou Gansu Province China

Conditions:   Stress;   Anxiety and FearInterventions:   Behavioral: Music intervention only;   Behavioral: Sports games intervention only;   Behavioral: Music and sports games interventionSponsor:   Wu JiarunCompleted

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Effective Group CBT for Social Anxiety in First-Episode Psychosis: Results of Randomized Controlled Trial

Background
Social anxiety (SA), a prevalent comorbid condition in psychotic disorders with a negative impact on functioning, requires adequate intervention relatively early. Using a randomized controlled trial, we tested the efficacy of a group cognitive-behavioral therapy intervention for SA (CBT-SA) that we developed for youth who experienced the first episode of psychosis (FEP). For our primary outcome, we hypothesized that compared to the active control of group cognitive remediation (CR), the CBT-SA group would show a reduction in SA that would be maintained at 3- and 6-month follow-ups. For secondary outcomes, it was hypothesized that the CBT-SA group would show a reduction of positive and negative symptoms and improvements in recovery and functioning.

Method
Ninety-six patients with an FEP and SA, recruited from five different FEP programs in the Montreal area, were randomized to 13 weekly group sessions of either CBT-SA or CR intervention.

Results
Linear mixed models revealed that multiple measures of SA significantly reduced over time, but with no significant group differences. Positive and negative symptoms, as well as functioning improved over time, with negative symptoms and functioning exhibiting a greater reduction in the CBT-SA group.

Conclusions
While SA decreased over time with both interventions, a positive effect of the CBT-SA intervention on measures of negative symptoms, functioning, and self-reported recovery at follow-up suggests that our intervention had a positive effect that extended beyond symptoms specific to SA.
ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02294409.

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New Study Reveals: Childhood Brain Morphometry Predicts Future Risk of Psychosis, Depression, and Anxiety

Background
Gray matter morphometry studies have lent seminal insights into the etiology of mental illness. Existing research has primarily focused on adults and then, typically on a single disorder. Examining brain characteristics in late childhood, when the brain is preparing to undergo significant adolescent reorganization and various forms of serious psychopathology are just first emerging, may allow for a unique and highly important perspective of overlapping and unique pathogenesis.

Methods
A total of 8645 youth were recruited as part of the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development study. Magnetic resonance imaging scans were collected, and psychotic-like experiences (PLEs), depressive, and anxiety symptoms were assessed three times over a 2-year period. Cortical thickness, surface area, and subcortical volume were used to predict baseline symptomatology and symptom progression over time.

Results
Some features could possibly signal common vulnerability, predicting progression across forms of psychopathology (e.g. superior frontal and middle temporal regions). However, there was a specific predictive value for emerging PLEs (lateral occipital and precentral thickness), anxiety (parietal thickness/area and cingulate), and depression (e.g. parahippocampal and inferior temporal).

Conclusion
Findings indicate common and distinct patterns of vulnerability for varying forms of psychopathology are present during late childhood, before the adolescent reorganization, and have direct relevance for informing novel conceptual models along with early prevention and intervention efforts.

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