Attention Training for Adolescents with Soical Anxiety Disorder

描述(由申请人提供)：这项研究的主要目标是为患有社交焦虑症(SAD)的青少年开发一种注意力训练(AT)方案。对威胁的注意偏差已被证明与成人和青少年的焦虑症的发展和维持有关(Bar-Him等人，2007；Cowart&Ollendick，2010；Perez-Edgar等人，2010；Scheck hner等人，2011)。鉴于这些关系，AT范式被发展来修正这些注意偏差。这种范式已被证明在治疗成人焦虑方面很有前途(Amir等人，2009；Buckner&Timpano，2009；Kumpp&Amir，2010；MacLeod&Bridle，2006；Riceh&Schmidt，2006)。然而，到目前为止，只有两项小型研究考察了AT对儿童的使用情况，还没有专门针对儿童或青少年使用的ATT方案。考虑到将成人设计的疗法应用于年轻人的并发症和可能无效的情况，这一点很重要(Ollendick&Vasey，2001)。鉴于文献中的这一差距，本研究的主要目的是开发一种治疗方案，以解决患有SAD的青少年的注意力偏差和焦虑，收集有关该方案短期有效性和可行性的初步数据，并探索注意力偏差作为最初治疗结果的中介和调节因素。据推测，与安慰剂对照条件相比，当前项目中开发的AT方案将导致SAD青少年样本中社交焦虑的减少。此外，AT方案有望减少那些在治疗前存在这种偏见的青少年对威胁的注意偏差(并不是所有的青少年都会表现出这种偏见，但AT已经被证明对这些青少年有潜在的效果；注意偏差的存在/不存在将被作为改变的调节因素来探索)。这项拟议的研究将是评估以青少年为重点的AT程序治疗SAD的可行性的关键一步。结果将有助于一个新兴的研究机构，探索针对焦虑青年的信息处理偏见的实验范式的改善效果。鉴于越来越多的证据表明AT在成人人群中的使用，这项研究的发现可能对改善目前焦虑青少年可用的预防和治疗方案具有一定的意义。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The primary objective of this study is to develop an Attention Training (AT) protocol for adolescents with social anxiety disorder (SAD). Attentional biases to threat have been shown to be associated with the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders, in both adults and youth (Bar-Haim et al., 2007; Cowart & Ollendick, 2010; Perez-Edgar et al., 2010; Schechner et al., 2011). Given these relations, AT paradigms have been developed to modify these attentional biases. Such paradigms have been shown to be promising in the treatment of adult anxiety (Amir et al, 2009; Buckner & Timpano, 2009; Klumpp & Amir, 2010; MacLeod & Bridle, 2006; Richey & Schmidt, 2006). However, to date, only two small studies have examined the use of AT with children, and no ATT protocol has been developed specifically for use with children or adolescents. This is important, given the complications and possible ineffectiveness of applying adult-designed therapies to youth (Ollendick & Vasey, 2001). Given this gap in the literature, the primary aims of the current study are intended to develop a treatment program to address attentional biases and anxiety in adolescents with SAD, to collect preliminary data regarding the program's short-term efficacy and feasibility, and to explore attention biases as a mediator and moderator of initial treatment outcomes. It is hypothesized that the AT protocol developed in the current project, compared to a placebo control comparator condition, will result in reductions in social anxiety among a sample of adolescents with SAD. Further, the AT protocol is expected to reduce attentional biases to threat among those adolescents who possess such biases prior to treatment (not all adolescents are expected to show this bias yet AT has been shown to be potentially effective with these youth; the presence/absence of attention bias will be explored as a moderator of change). The proposed study will be a pivotal step towards assessing the feasibility of an adolescent-focused AT procedure for the treatment of SAD. Results will contribute to an emerging body of research exploring the ameliorating effects of experimental paradigms that target information processing biases in anxious youth. Given emerging evidence regarding the use of AT in adult populations, findings from this study may have implications for improving the current prevention and treatment options available for anxious adolescents.