Attention Training for Adolescents with Soical Anxiety Disorder

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究的主要目的是为患有社交焦虑障碍（SAD）的青少年制定注意力训练（AT）方案。对威胁的注意偏向已被证明与成人和青少年焦虑症的发展和维持有关（Bar-Haim等人，2007;Cowart & Ollendick, 2010； Perez-Edgar等人，2010；Schechner等人，2011）。鉴于这些关系，人们开发了AT范式来修正这些注意偏差。这些范例在治疗成人焦虑症方面被证明是有希望的（Amir et al, 2009; Buckner & Timpano, 2009; Klumpp & Amir, 2010; MacLeod & Bridle, 2006; Richey & Schmidt, 2006）。然而，到目前为止，只有两项小型研究对儿童使用抗逆转录病毒治疗进行了调查，而且还没有制定专门用于儿童或青少年的抗逆转录病毒治疗方案。考虑到将成人设计的治疗方法应用于青少年的并发症和可能的无效，这一点很重要（Ollendick & Vasey, 2001）。鉴于文献中的这一空白，本研究的主要目的是制定一个治疗方案，以解决青少年SAD患者的注意偏差和焦虑，收集有关该方案短期疗效和可行性的初步数据，并探讨注意偏差在初始治疗结果中的中介和调节作用。假设在当前项目中开发的AT方案，与安慰剂对照比较条件相比，将导致患有SAD的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就有这种偏见的青少年对威胁的注意偏见（并不是所有的青少年都被期望表现出这种偏见，但AT已被证明对这些青少年有潜在的有效性；注意偏见的存在/不存在将作为变化的调节因素进行探讨）。拟议的研究将是评估以青少年为中心的AT程序治疗SAD的可行性的关键一步。研究结果将有助于探索针对焦虑青少年信息加工偏见的实验范式的改善效果。鉴于在成人人群中使用抗逆转录病毒治疗的新证据，本研究的发现可能对改善当前焦虑青少年的预防和治疗方案具有启示意义。

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.