Attentional disengagement biases in social anxiety disorder

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a mental disorder characterized by significant fear and anxiety about social situations that may attract attention from others. Selective attention in social anxiety is characterized by a preferential attention to external threatening stimuli. The aim of this study is to test the influence of social anxiety on attentional disengagement bias. Attentional biases are phenomena where attention preferentially targets threatening stimuli. Attention is hypothesized to consist of three processes: engagement, shifting, and disengagement. Previous studies have suggested that people with SAD have impaired attentional engagement with the threatening stimuli. However, recent studies have used the dot-probe task to measure the attentional biases to show that people with SAD have impaired attentional disengagement. However, the dot-probe task is not suitable for separately assessing attentional disengagement or engagement biases. Therefore, we used a gap/overlap task, which can measure attentional disengagement bias, in 16 university students from high and low SAD groups. Faces were used as stimuli for the gap/overlap task (i.e., angry/happy/neutral). The results showed no significant difference between the high and low SAD groups in their attentional disengagement bias. We discussed the possible causes of this discrepancy between the previous studies and the current study in the relationship between social anxiety and attentional disengagement bias

ヒキコモリ ジョウタイ ノ セイネン ニ タイスル オヤ ノ カカワリカタ ニ カンスル ケンキュウ : ハハオヤ エノ ハンコウゾウカ メンセツ ノ ブンセキ

This study investigated how parental attitude affects young people in the state of “hikikomori". Thirteen mothers of “hikikomori" children were interviewed at the Clinical Psychology Counseling Service established in the University of Tokushima . The thirteen cases divided into four groups . Type 1 :“Hikikomori" caused by hating school during teenage years， Type 2 :“Hikikomori" caused by student apathy，Type 3 :“Hikikomori" caused by frustration with work and Type4 :“ Hikikomori" caused by other reasons. Results of the data analysis by the KJ method show that parents consider good attitudes to include getting support from specialists， accepting “Hikikomori" completely，encouraging “Hikikomori" to be active (for instance by giving them allowances) and showing gratitude for help offered by “Hikikomori". Patients consider bad attitudes to include ignoring the opinions of“Hikikomori"， getting angry， forcing “Hikikomori" into action and the self-righteous nurture manner for children. Accordingly this study， the recommendable attitude of patents toward “Hikikomori" is showed to a certain extent. I hope this study could contribute to“Hikikomori" getting out their difficulties

The relationship between the difficult tendency in emotion regulation and activation, consequences of distraction

Behavioral Activation (BA) is an effective treatment for depression. Although there are various manualized approaches if ones cannot simply activate in BA，the way to regulate ones’ emotion before behavior activation is not established. If ones have difficulty regulating ones’ emotion，they more frequently avoid than activate. Although most people use distraction as emotion-regulation strategies，distraction gets their moods worse. The purpose of this study was to examine difference in daily activities，and consequences of distraction by patterns of the difficulty in emotion regulation during coping for depression. The result of cluster analysis on Japanese version of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale(J-DERS) showed three clusters: (a)highly difficult emotion-regulating group (b)moderately difficult emotion-regulating group (c)low difficult emotion-regulating group. Moreover，it was indicated that highly difficult emotion-regulating group conducted more frequently avoidant responses from emotion and daily avoidance. Therefore，they had difficulty in confrontation with something to be dealt with. These results suggested that decreasing avoidant behaviors and instructions of effective distraction to regulate dysphoric moods before behavior activation is effective strategy for highly difficult emotion-regulating group

カンジョウ プライミング ガ インショウ ケイセイ ニ オヨボス エイキョウ

Impression formation and character inference are formed via cognition of facial expression, and so on. Individual's emotional condition is thought as one of factors that related the judgment of cognition of facial expression. Affective priming paradigm is often used to control its condition. Many affective priming studies were applied to cognition of expression, however, not to impression formation. Therefore, this study discussed the following three hypotheses to examine that impression formation is whether or not influence by subliminal affective priming. First, when prime-target evaluation (positive verse negative) is inconsistent (Inconsistent condition), impression evaluation is influenced by prime's impression, compared with Consistent condition that prime-target evaluation is consistent. Second, as target duration is longer, variance of values of impression evaluation becomes smaller. Third, when target duration is short, variance of those is small under consistent condition compared with inconsistent condition. As a result of experiment, all hypotheses were not support. However, since some suggestions about impression formation's speed and variance of evaluation were thought about by the experiment, it is desired to search for priming effect further

The effect of number of role playing on self-efficacy in social skills training

This study investigated the effect of the number of role playing times on self-efficacy in social skills training (SST). Participations were 19 university students. They were randomly divided into first group without role playing, second group in which was designed role playing at once, and third group in which was designed three times role playing. Intervention of all groups was consisted of 1 session SST in which participants practiced nonverbal communication skills. Participants selected a practice partner in their life and practiced the most difficult point of nonverbal communication skills. As a result, the third group tended to maintain the self-efficacy increased after SST than the first group at the follow-up after a week. From now on, it is desirable to consider extending the period of follow-up, to investigate other subjects and other target skills

Successful remote treatment of a client with Hikikomori using internet-delivered cognitive therapy for social anxiety disorder: a case report

Hikikomori (prolonged social withdrawal) has been discussed as a hidden worldwide epidemic and a significant social and healthcare issue. Social anxiety disorder is the most common psychiatric disorder preceding the onset of Hikikomori. Although studies exist suggesting the effectiveness of family-support interventions, little is known about psychotherapeutic approaches for Hikikomori individuals. Here, we present a case of Hikikomori wherein an internet-delivered cognitive therapy for social anxiety disorder (iCT-SAD) worked effectively in improving the client’s social anxiety symptoms and social interaction behaviors. This case study demonstrates the principle that evidence-based psychological interventions focusing on social anxiety can be effective for clients with Hikikomori. Furthermore, the online mode of treatment delivery, along with a variety of relevant modules, may facilitate clients’ engagement with treatment at home. The findings suggest that iCT-SAD might be a promising option for Hikikomori clients who have social anxiety problems, within the recommended stepped-intervention approach

モラエス ノ ニワ : 2 ズイソウ ノ ヘンシツ

This paper is an essay on Moraes’s Tokushima no Bon-odori, part of the outcomes of the Project Studies by the activities in 2011 of Moraes’s Studies Group launched in July 31, 2010. The members of Moraes’s Studies Group, T. Miyazaki (English Literature), M. Satoh (Plant Physiology), M. Sakai (Clinical Psychology), all at the Institute of Socio-Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokushima, have been continuing to try to analyze Moraes’s works and to approach a new facet of Moraes’s biographical aspects. Moraes was fascinated by the far-east Japan, and fell in love with Oyoné, who died soon after the marriage. After her death Moraes decided to live in Tokushima, which was Oyoné’s hometown. He lived with Koharu, Oyoné’s niece, for a while until she died from tuberculosis at the age of 23. His life until his death in Tokushima was a kind of hermit, disregard of his fame as Consul General and Navy high-rank Officer of Portugal, and other financial merits entailed with them. Moraes published Tokushima no Bon-odori in 1913 after Oyoné died. This work might be regarded as based on the forms of diary and essay, seemingly as reports from Tokushima to Bento Carqueja, editor of Porto Commercial Newspaper in Portugal. His interest in Kino Tsurayuki’s Tosa-Nikki (Tosa Diary), which was written in the persona of a woman, seems to be the key to understand the modification in the quality of Tokushima no Bon-odori. Though this work was written as a diary and an essay in the persona of alien people to Tokushima, the tone of this work was quite changed at the final part of his letters to Bento Carqueja, the editor. This tentative paper intends to open a new perspective in a rather fixed image of Moraes and studies about him

Effects and efficacy of depression prevention program focused on promoting expression of positive self-statement in elementary school third graders

The purpose of this study was to investigate effects and efficacy of classroom-based depression prevention program focused on promoting expression of positive self-statement. The participants in this study were elementary school third graders. A waiting list control design was used, in which the children were assigned either to intervention group (n =32) or waiting list control group (n =65). As result, no significant effect was seen between two groups. On the other hand, as a result of examination in depressed high group and low group, it was suggested that the program developed in this study may be effective for children exhibiting a high depression tendency. Finally, future tasks in earlier depression-preventive intervention for children were discussed

セイネン ノ シャカイテキ イツダツ コウイ ケイコウ ト クウキョカン ニンチテキ ワイキョク ノ カンレン

Recently, crime and delinquency have been changing during adolescence.It is suggested that an obscurity of reality and fiction in the present advanced information society and a feeling of emptiness from anxiety of uneasiness are causes.Nevertheless, there has never been an empirical study providing evidence towards those claims. This study indicates the relation of socially delinquent and emptiness among college students.The socially delinquent was suggested to concerns attitudes of disvalue to the socially delinquent and cognitive distorted(Yoshizawa & Yoshida,2004).Thus,this study tested the relationships between emptiness,cognitive distortion,and social delinquency. Consequently,the suggested model was different in men and women.In men, a direct effect towards apathy and an indirect effect of cognitive distortion to the socially delinquent were found.In addition,a mediating effect of egocentricity of cognitive distortion mediating the association between emptiness from anxiety of uneasiness and the socially delinquent was indicated.In women,a direct effect towards an emptiness from an anxiety of uneasiness to social delinquency and a mediating effect towards a denigrating fallaciousness of cognitive distortion mediating the association between loneliness of emptiness and socially delinquent was indicated

タイジン ニンチ ガ シャカイテキ スキル ニ オヨボス エイキョウ

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of interpersonal cognition on the social skills. Results revealed that the participants of this study held higher social skills for their friend who they had a favorable impression than for those with a bad impression. It was also found that the participants who held low social skills for a friend with a favorable impression also held low social skills towards a friend with a bad impression. From these results, it is considered that social skills are dependent on impressions of the other person. The data analysis also found the impression of the other person causes a social skills deficit. In addition, results suggest a social skills deficit may occur in people with high social skills