Clinical trial NCT00751465: Dysfunctional Attention Processes in Fear of Blushing: Specificity and Changeability
Official title: Clinical Specificity of Dysfunctional Habitual Attention Processes in Fear of Blushing and Their Changeability
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Phobia, Social
Keywords: Social Anxiety Disorder
Social Phobia
Fear of blushing
attention
attention training
cognitive behavior therapy
Lead sponsor: Technische Universität Dresden
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: German Research Foundation
First posted: 2008-09-12
Enrollment: 82
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 70
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: FACTORIAL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: Blushing is associated with a heightened self-focused attention. In our study we are interested if this self-focused attention can be shown experimentally and if it can be changed by therapy and training. For the experimental part of the study, we want to compare blushing fearful individuals to social anxious participants who are not fearful of blushing and to healthy controls who report to blush either seldom or quite often. In the therapeutical part of our study, we compare an attention training to the standard cognitive behavioral therapy for social anxiety disorder in an intensive group therapy approach.

Detailed description: Fear of blushing is a specific syndrome in social anxiety disorder. Although attentional biases for social anxiety disorders have often been reported, specific data for fear of blushing are still missing. In this study, dysfunctional attention processes are examined by the use of various questionnaire measures and attention tests (e.g. Stroop test, task switching paradigm) comparing fear of blushers, other social phobia patients, healthy volunteers who report to blush seldomly respectively often. The second goal of the study is to examine if these attention processes can be changed by training and therapy. Therefore, individuals who fulfill DSM-IV criteria for social anxiety disorder and report fear of blushing as main problem, are treated with attention training and with CBT for social anxiety disorder. Therapy will be held in the form of intensive weekend group therapy. Differences in outcomes for both therapy types and in changeability of attention processes on objective test data are examined. Stability of results are tested up to 6-month and 12-month after post-assessment.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Social anxiety disorder (DSM-IV criteria) and fear of blushing as main complaint
* age: 18-70

Exclusion Criteria:

* acute severe depression or bipolar disorder
* any disorder of ICD group F2
* acute and severe substance misuse
* any bodily illness which hinders from study participation

Primary outcomes:
measure: Brief Social Phobia Scale
timeFrame: pre, within, post, 6-months, and 12-months follow-up
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Social Phobia Composite
timeFrame: pre, within, post, 6-months, and 12-months follow-up
measure: Changes in objective attention test data
timeFrame: within, post, 6-months follow-up
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Dresden
country: Germany
facility: TU Dresden
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Technology Dresden
name: Jürgen Hoyer, Prof. Dr.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Chaker S, Hofmann SG, Hoyer J. Can a one-weekend group therapy reduce fear of blushing? Results of an open trial. Anxiety Stress Coping. 2010 May;23(3):303-18. doi: 10.1080/10615800903075132.