A Call for Complexity in the Study of Social Anxiety Disorder. Commentary: The aetiology and maintenance of social anxiety disorder: A synthesis of complementary theoretical models and formulation of a new integrated model

The network approach to psychopathology: a review of the literature 2008-2018 and an agenda for future research

The network approach to psychopathology posits that mental disorders can be conceptualized and studied as causal systems of mutually reinforcing symptoms. This approach, first posited in 2008, has grown substantially over the past decade and is now a full-fledged area of psychiatric research. In this article, we provide an overview and critical analysis of 363 articles produced in the first decade of this research program, with a focus on key theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions. In addition, we turn our attention to the next decade of the network approach and propose critical avenues for future research in each of these domains. We argue that this program of research will be best served by working toward two overarching aims: (a) the identification of robust empirical phenomena and (b) the development of formal theories that can explain those phenomena. We recommend specific steps forward within this broad framework and argue that these steps are necessary if the network approach is to develop into a progressive program of research capable of producing a cumulative body of knowledge about how specific mental disorders operate as causal systems.

Attentional Bias for Threat and Anxiety: The Role of Loneliness

Objective: There is literature to suggest that anxious individuals may be lonely. Attentional bias for threat (ABT), a mechanism implicated in the core symptoms of anxiety, has been linked to loneliness in a separate line of work. The primary aim of this study was to examine the role of loneliness in the association between ABT and anxiety. Method: An unselected sample of 260 individuals (196 Female; Mean Age = 22.43) completed measures of loneliness, ABT (a dot probe task), and anxiety. Two possible models of the role of loneliness in the ABT-anxiety link were tested using hierarchical regression analysis: (1) A moderation model (the ABT-anxiety link is moderated by loneliness), and (2) A proxy model (the ABT-anxiety link is better explained by loneliness). Results: In support of the latter model, ABT no longer predicted anxiety after the effects of loneliness had been accounted for. Additionally, ABT was associated with anxiety only when indexed using sadness-related scenes (but not fear-related scenes). Conclusions: Loneliness may be one important source of exaggerated threat appraisals which underpin the association between ABT and anxiety. Different classes of negative stimuli may be differentially sensitive to anxiety and should be a point of consideration in future research.

Unfolding the Complex Dynamic Interplay Between Attentional Processes and Anxiety: A Commentary on Ghassemzadeh, Rothbart, and Posner

Theories about the involvement of attention in feelings of fear and anxiety have been debated in philosophical circles since long before the foundation of experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience. In this issue, Ghassemzadeh, Rothbart, and Posner (2019) provide a much-needed historical and conceptual review of the relations between attention and anxiety disorders. Throughout their paper, they argue that insights from the study of brain networks of attention offer a particularly viable prospect for best clarifying the complex relations between attentional processes and anxiety. We fully share this view. Moreover, we believe that the computational and conceptual tools of network analysis (also known as graph theory) can enable researchers to move even closer to elucidating the complex dynamic interplay between those phenomena. In this commentary, we explain why and how to use network analysis for this purpose.

Gender Differences in the Difficulty in Disengaging from Threat among Children and Adolescents With Social Anxiety

There is some research showing that social anxiety is related with attentional bias to threat. However, others fail to find this relationship and propose that gender differences may play a role. The aim of this study was to investigate the gender differences in the subcomponents of attentional bias to threat (hypervigilance and difficulty in disengaging) among children and adolescents with social anxiety. Overall, 181 youngsters aged between 10 and 14 participated in the current study. Images of disgusted faces were used as threat stimuli in an Exogenous Cueing Task was used to measure the subcomponents of attentional bias. Additionally, the Social Anxiety Scale for Children was used to measure social anxiety. The repeated measures ANOVA showed that male participants with high social anxiety showed difficulty in disengaging from threat, but this was not the case for female participants. Our results indicated that social anxiety is more related with attentional bias to threat among male children and adolescents than females. These findings suggested that developing gender-specific treatments for social anxiety may improve treatment effects.