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Intolerance of Uncertainty and Social Anxiety: An Experimental Investigation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2023

Pooja Saraff Open the ORCID record for Pooja Saraff [Opens in a new window] ,
Bethany Shikatani ,
Anna Maria Rogic ,
Erin Faith Dodig ,
Snigdha Talluri  and
Heather Murray-Latin
Pooja Saraff*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
Bethany Shikatani*
Affiliation:
Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Anna Maria Rogic
Affiliation:
Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Erin Faith Dodig
Affiliation:
Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Snigdha Talluri
Affiliation:
Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Heather Murray-Latin
Affiliation:
Center for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Hartford Hospital Institute of Living, Hartford, Connecticut, USA
*
*Corresponding author: Pooja Saraff, Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 100 Century Drive, Worcester, MA 01606, USA. Email: saraffpooja@gmail.com
†These authors are indicated as joint first authors
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Abstract

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is a cognitive bias that leads to perception and intolerance of uncertainty and has associated negative cognitive, emotional, and behavioural responses. It plays a strong role in social anxiety disorder (SAD; Counsell et al., 2017). Our experimental study examined the impact of uncertainty related to a social stressor on SAD using a speech task. We examined features of SAD including anticipatory anxiety, anxiety during the task, willingness to perform the task, and avoidance of the task. Undergraduate students (N = 110, 88% female) with significant social anxiety completed a series of questionnaires, then were randomised to one of two conditions related to level of uncertainty about an impromptu speech task. The experimental condition (state IU) did not predict any of the outcome variables, while trait IU significantly predicted anxiety levels. Results indicate that increased uncertainty of a social situation does not impact acute anxiety levels in SAD and reinforce the strong role of trait IU as a transdiagnostic cognitive variable. Neither trait nor state IU predicted the willingness and avoidance variables. Results also highlighted the central role of the experience of anxiety on avoidance behaviours, above cognitive factors such as IU.

Keywords

intolerance of uncertaintysocial anxiety disorderexperimentalavoidancewillingness
Type
Standard Paper
Information
Behaviour Change , Volume 40 , Issue 4 , December 2023 , pp. 314 - 327
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy

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