Feasibility Study of Mindfulness and Acceptance Based Group Therapy for Social Anxiety
Condition: Social Anxiety
MeSH terms: Anxiety Disorders
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Anxiety and depressive disorders are common in all regions of the world. Anxiety disorders
      are considered as third major psychological issue in Pakistan (Panhwer, 2014). Objective of
      the present study is to see the feasibility and effectiveness of social anxiety in females
      with the help of mindfulness and acceptance based therapy. It is hypothesized that women in
      the intervention group will have significantly reduced anxiety as compared to the women in
      the control group. A total of 60 females in the age range of 18 to 28 ages will be selected
      from Institute of professional psychology and private clinics from Karachi city. The
      participants will be recruited through the administration of Mini-Social Phobia Inventory
      (SPIN-mini). The participants will be randomly divided in interventions and control group and
      will receive the intervention of ten sessions of group therapy of MABT plan. Assessment will
      be conducted at the baseline and at the end of the intervention.
    

Detailed description: 
      Anxiety and depressive disorders are becoming the major psychological issue in Pakistan due
      to several circumstances. Social anxiety is one the prominent symbol for psychological
      disturbance observed in young generation. Since, other therapeutic approaches for social
      anxiety have not shown significant benefit regarding improvement of symptoms recovery and to
      avoid relapse of the symptoms, further researches needed to focus on improving
      post-functioning recovery. The uses of mindfulness and acceptance base group therapy manual
      for social anxiety has shown significantly reduce symptoms of social anxiety after the
      therapy in other regions of the world. In this regard the present study will help to enhance
      the variety of treatment plan and to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness in this
      subject. Therefore, objective of the present study is to see the feasibility and
      effectiveness of social anxiety in females with the help of mindfulness and acceptance based
      therapy. In this regard hypothesis is designed as; women in the intervention group will have
      significantly reduced anxiety as compared to the women in the control group . A total of 60
      females in the age range of 18 to 28 ages will be recruited from Institute of professional
      psychology . The participants will be recruited through the administration of Mini-Social
      Phobia Inventory (SPIN-mini). Total of 32 participants will be randomly divided in
      interventions and control group will receive the intervention of ten sessions of group
      therapy of MABT plan. The manual group intervention will be provided as per the second
      edition of Mindfulness and Acceptance-Based Group Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder: A
      Treatment Manual developed by Fleming, and Kocovski (2014). The intervention will consist of
      10 group therapy sessions. Each session will be conducted in 120 minutes. It includes
      therapist manual, client handouts, and is written to be used in conjunction with The
      Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Social Anxiety and Shyness. The treatment manual can
      be easily adapted for individual therapy clients.At the end scores of re-administration of
      the questionnaire will help to assess the outcomes of the study. Results of this intervention
      study will be analysed through quantities measures.
    

Intervention name(s): Mindfulness and acceptance group therapy
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): The manual group intervention will be provided as per the second edition of Mindfulness and Acceptance-Based Group Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder: A Treatment Manual developed by Fleming, and Kocovski (2014). The intervention will consist of 10 group therapy sessions. Each session will be conducted in 120 minutes. It includes therapist manual, client handouts, and is written to be used in conjunction with The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Social Anxiety and Shyness. The treatment manual can be easily adapted for individual therapy clients.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: mindfulness; MABT; social anxiety; mindfulness and acceptance; group therapy