Task concentration training and fear of blushing

Self-focused attention (SFA) is considered to be an important factor in the maintenance of social phobia. It is argued that this might be especially so in erytrophobia since physiological arousal (notably blushing) serves to focus attention inwards and heightened SFA may cause a blushing reaction. From this perspective, a treatment strategy is proposed that specifically aims at reducing SFA in erytrophobics. Two case studies are presented to illustrate the clinical use of task concentration training. Results revealed that task concentration training strongly decreased blushing propensity, fear of blushing, avoidance behaviour, and negative beliefs about the consequences of blushing. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

[1]  S. Woody.  Effects of focus of attention on anxiety levels and social performance of individuals with social phobia , 1996 .

[2]  A. Wells,et al.  Attention and Emotion: A Clinical Perspective , 1994 .

[3]  A. Wells.  Panic disorder in association with relaxation induced anxiety: An attentional training approach to treatment , 1990 .

[4]  J. F. Klein,et al.  Social Anxiety and the Recall of Interpersonal Information , 1990, Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy.

[5]  Deborah C. Beidel,et al.  An empirically derived inventory to measure social fears and anxiety: The Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory. , 1989 .

[6]  J. Pryor,et al.  Effects of performance expectancy and self-focused attention on social interaction. , 1986, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[7]  M. Leary.  A Brief Version of the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale , 1983 .

[8]  D. Wegner,et al.  Arousal-induced attention to self , 1980 .

[9]  C. Carver,et al.  Self-focusing effects of heartbeat feedback. , 1978, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[10]  M. Franklin.  Social phobia : diagnosis, assessment, and treatment , 1996 .

[11]  A. Wells.  A cognitive model of social phobia , 1995 .

[12]  John A. Daly,et al.  Self-focused attention and public speaking anxiety , 1989 .

[13]  G. Butler.  Issues in the application of cognitive and behavioral strategies to the treatment of social phobia , 1989 .

[14]  R. Heimberg,et al.  Attentional focus and causal attributions in social phobia: Implications from social psychology , 1989 .

[15]  L. Hartman.  A metacognitive model of social anxiety: Implications for treatment , 1983 .

[16]  A. Mathews,et al.  Brief standard self-rating for phobic patients. , 1979, Behaviour research and therapy.

[17]  G. Mandler,et al.  Autonomic feedback: the perception of autonomic activity. , 1958, Journal of abnormal psychology.