(George Mason University) When you think of people suffering from social anxiety, you probably characterize them as shy, inhibited and submissive. However, new research from psychologists Todd Kashdan and Patrick McKnight at George Mason University suggests that there is a subset of socially anxious people who act out in aggressive, risky ways -- and that their behavior patterns are often misunderstood. (Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science)MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

When you think of people suffering from social anxiety, you probably characterize them as shy, inhibited and submissive. However, new research from psychologists suggests that there is a subset of socially anxious people who act out in aggressive, risky ways -- and that their behavior patterns are often misunderstood. (Source: ScienceDaily Headlines)

Combination therapy with cognitive behavioral group therapy and phenelzine sulfate is more effective than either treatment alone and may improve response rates in patients with social anxiety disorder. Medscape Medical News (Source: Medscape Today Headlines)

Conclusion  These findings emphasize the need to improve the access to mental health services and the quality of care for individuals with anxiety disorders in primary care. Content Type Journal ArticleCategory Original PaperDOI 10.1007/s00127-010-0186-2Authors Pasquale Roberge, University of Montreal Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Montreal QC CanadaLouise Fournier, University of Montreal Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Montreal QC CanadaArnaud Duhoux, University of Montreal Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Montreal QC CanadaCat Tuong Nguyen, University of Montreal Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Montreal QC CanadaMirrian Smolders, Ra...

Behaviour Change 26(4): 254-270 Abstract This paper introduces a novel approach to internet treatment for social anxiety. The goal of this treatment was to address key limitations of current standalone treatments (Helgadottir, Menzies, Onslow, Packman, & O'Brian, 2009). The `computer psychologist' designed for this study used fully automated, prewritten individualised sample answers in order to simulate a human-human interaction through a human-computer interface. Two males who sought treatment for stuttering and met the diagnosis for social phobia according to the DSM-IV and ICD-10 criteria were selected for this study. After receiving the treatment, both users no longer met criteria for social phobia. Also, significant improvements were observed on other psychometric tests, including mea...

Conclusions: Patients with ASAD attending an anxiety clinic are highly symptomatic and disabled. The findings have implications for the classification, clinical identification and treatment of adult anxiety disorders. (Source: BMC Psychiatry - Latest articles)MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Conclusion: Anxiety disorders, especially panic disorder and PTSD, are independently associated with suicide attempts. Clinicians need to assess suicidal behavior among patients presenting with anxiety problems. Depression and Anxiety 0:1-8, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. (Source: Depression and Anxiety)

A comprehensive evolutionary personality psychology can be developed by identifying individual differences within each of the evolved systems that regulate social behaviour. We developed a questionnaire measure of social rank style, defined as individual differences in preferred strategies for pursuing, defending, and, when necessary, relinquishing social rank. The 17-item Rank Style with Peers Questionnaire (RSPQ) comprises three nearly independent scales: dominant leadership, coalition-building, and ruthless self-advancement. A series of studies demonstrated that: (a) the RSPQ’s, factor structure is robust; (b) the three rank style variables are not redundant with the five-factor traits or adult attachment styles; (c) they are related in theoretically expected ways to adjustment outcom...

CONCLUSION: Consistent with the literature of school based Cognitive-Behavioral Group Treatment (CBGT) programs for social anxiety, it was found that adolescents in the treatment group exhibited a significant decrease in social anxiety and related cognitive errors. PMID: 20204902 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Turkish Journal of Psychiatry)

(Source: Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology)

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a common disorder that can lead to significant impairment. In this chapter, the author provides background on the disorder and reviews hypothesized familial and temperamental risk factors. In particular, it highlights the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Longitudinal Study of Children at Risk for Anxiety, now in its fifteenth year, and describes how this study has identified some factors that contribute to risk for SAD. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Source: New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development)MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

This chapter contains (1) an analysis of commonalities and differences in anxious solitude and social anxiety disorder, and a review of empirical investigations examining (2) correspondence among childhood anxious solitude and anxiety and mood diagnoses and (3) the relation between peer difficulties and temporal stability of anxious solitude and depressive symptoms. Findings support a diathesis-stress model in which anxious solitude forecasts symptoms of psychopathology primarily in the context of interpersonal stress. Additionally, evidence for individual and environmental factors which moderate risk for peer difficulties among anxious solitary children is reviewed. Implications for intervention are discussed. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Source: New Directions for Child and Adolescent Dev...

In this chapter, the authors review the history of the Waterloo Longitudinal Project (WLP), the first longitudinal study (1980-1992) dedicated to the study of social withdrawal, its correlates, and consequences. Theories underlying the WLP are described, as are its empirical findings. Recent research from other labs that has extended the findings of the original WLP is briefly described. The authors' research that draws on the findings of WLP are noted as well. An underlying theme in this work is that relationships (and interactions) with parents and friends can serve as protective or exacerbating factors in the developmental course of social withdrawal and its concomitants (including social anxiety). © Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Source: New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development)

Monthly magazines from Reader's Digest to Cosmopolitan are inundated with tips on how to sleep better, find happiness, and weave seriously sexy hair. Taking nothing away from being happy and blowing your romantic partner's mind on valentine's day, there are few things as valuable as staying alive.Sometimes we fail to take life and death seriously. Think back to those painful days of calculus class in high school. Like the sounds of a banshee ripping out its entrails, you and your classmates probably screamed the same screams heard year after year - "I'm so bored, I could die!" And yet, did your calculus teacher care? Did they offer a hug or show the slightest empathy? Probably not. And what about the desperate pleas of innocent children on long, monotonous car rides. All children want is a...

Source: Arch Gen Psychiatry Area: News The results of a randomised double-blind, placebo-controlled trial have found that a combination of phenelzine and cognitive behavioural group therapy (CBGT) is superior to either treatment alone and to placebo for social anxiety disorder (SAD).   To investigate, researchers from two US academic centres randomised 128 adults with a primary DSM-IV diagnosis of SAD to CBGT (n=34), phenelzine sulphate (15-60mg/day; n=35), placebo (n=27), or combined CBGT plus phenelzine (15-60mg/day; n=32). The CBGT sessions took place weekly and were administered by two therapists in twelve 2.5-hour sessions to groups of 4 to 6 participants.   The primary outcome measures were Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale and Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scale s...

Authors: Wonderlich-Tierney AL, Vander Wal JS The current study examined the hypotheses that social support and coping moderate and or mediate the relationship between a broad and a narrow form of social anxiety and eating disorder symptoms. One hundred sixty-nine female undergraduates at a private Midwestern university, completed measures of social support, coping, social anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, and disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that higher levels of social support are associated with a weaker association between social anxiety and eating disorder symptomatology. Low use of task- and avoidant-oriented (distraction) coping and increased use of emotion-oriented coping are associated with a stronger...MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

This study aims to examine social skills through self-reports of children with AS (N = 21) and a matched group of typically developing peers, as well as reports from their mothers, fathers, and teachers. Results showed that children with AS had more social skills deficits according to all raters and that they reported more aggressiveness/antisocial behavior, more conceit/haughtiness, more loneliness/social anxiety, and less assertiveness than controls. The level of agreement between raters varied significantly, suggesting that social skills are best studied with multiple informants. PMID: 20195739 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders)

Conclusions A significant range of psychiatric disorders occur after traumatic injury. The identification and treatment of a range of psychiatric disorders are important for optimal adaptation after traumatic injury. (Source: Am J Psychiatry)

Conclusion  Combined phenelzine and CBGT treatment is superior to either treatment alone and to placebo on dimensional measures and on rates of response and remission. (Source: Archives of General Psychiatry)

The link, if any, between creativity and mental illness is one of the most controversial topics in modern creativity research. The present research assessed the relationships between anxiety and depression symptom dimensions and several facets of creativity: divergent thinking, creative self-concepts, everyday creative behaviors, and creative accomplishments. Latent variable models estimated effect sizes and their confidence intervals. Overall, measures of anxiety, depression, and social anxiety predicted little variance in creativity. Few models explained more than 3% of the variance, and the effect sizes were small and inconsistent in direction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts)