The Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on Negative Self-Representations in Social Anxiety Disorder—A Randomized Wait-List Controlled Trial
Frontiers in Psychiatry May 12, 2021 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.582333 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 85 |
| Population | Individuals with social anxiety disorder |
| Intervention | Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) |
| Duration | 12-week intervention |
| Topics | Meditation Anxiety |
| Keywords | Self-representations Self-related processing Other-related processing Social anxiety |
| Key findings | MBSR reduced the self-reference effect for negative adjectives, and the resulting equilibrium in memory performance between self and other conditions predicted decreases in social anxiety symptoms. |
Abstract
This study examines the impact of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) vs. wait list (WL) on the self-reference effect involving negative adjectives in individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD). Eighty-five participants with SAD were randomly assigned to 12 weeks of MBSR or WL and completed an incidental SRE task that assessed treatment-related negative self-representations. Self-related negative adjectives were worse remembered in MBSR than in WL, and other-related negative adjectives were better remembered in MBSR than in WL. No differences emerged between the levels of self- and other-related processing for adjectives in MBSR. Moreover, the MBSR-related decreases in the difference in recognition memory performance between self and other conditions, that is, the treatment-related equilibrium, could predict the MBSR-related decreases in social anxiety symptoms. The selfless functioning and self-other control that can provide reasonable interpretations for these findings were discussed.