Aiming to Fully Understand How We Heal: Treatment and Assessment Protocol Development for Clinical Research on Performance-Specific Social Anxiety Disorder

The purpose of this project was to develop assessment and treatment protocols for clinical research on performance-specific Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). The treatments used were Observed and Experiential Integration (OEI; a trauma-root-focused therapy), and Breathing, Relaxation, Autogenics, Imagery, and grouNding (BRAIN; a trauma-symptom-focused therapy). Similarities between trauma and anxiety symptoms suggest a traumatic cause of SAD. Both trauma-root-focused and trauma-symptom-focused treatments resulted in improvements in: (a) narrow-spectrum symptoms of speaker confidence and public speaking behaviour. In response to trauma-root-focused treatment: (a) broad-spectrum symptoms of general anxiety and depression improved, and (b) psychophysiological reactivity to past traumatic social experiences was reduced. Diverse types of measurements (self-report, behaviour sampling, and psychophysiological measures) will be helpful for understanding (a) broad-spectrum, (b) narrow- spectrum, and (c) psychophysiological symptoms. Results of descriptive analyses supported the existence of traumatic origins of performance-specific SAD.