The effects of anticipatory and post-event information processing on perception and memory of the symptom in social anxiety disorder / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the influence of anticipatory and post-event information processing on the memories and perception of the symptom in patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD). Methods A group of 32 SAD patients and a control group of 35 healthy indivisuals were included. Instruments including Self-Rating Depression Scale, Subjective Units Discomfort Scale( SUDS ), Rumination Questionnaire ,Open-ended Recall and Body Sensations Questionnaire were adopted in both groups. Results In the group SAD, no significant difference was identified between the experimental group( (49.68 ± 17.68), ( 19.00 ± 1.25), (0. 54 ±0. 17) ) and the experimental control group( ( 50.43 ± 20.72 ), ( 18.68 ± 1.25 ), ( 0.52 ± 0.17 ) ) when the ratings the memories of body sensations, rumination, and negative self-information score were compared (P＞ 0.05 ). There was a significant positive correlation between the level of rumination ,SUDS, the memories of negative self-information and the body sensations scores( r= 0.72; r= 0.94; r= 0.70, P＜ 0.01 ). The scores of rumination explained 64% of the variation in SUDS scores(β=0.82, P＜0. 01 ). Conclusion This study suggest that social anxiety is affected directly by rumination which can result in more memories of negative self-information and the body sensation. Symptoms are maintained by post-event information processing.