| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 910453 | Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry | 2012 | 10 Pages |
Background and objectivesEvidence from the depression literature suggests that an analytical processing mode adopted during repetitive thinking leads to maladaptive outcomes relative to an experiential processing mode. To date, in socially anxious individuals, the impact of processing mode during repetitive thinking related to an actual social-evaluative situation has not been investigated. We thus tested whether an analytical processing mode would be maladaptive relative to an experiential processing mode during anticipatory processing and post-event rumination.MethodsHigh and low socially anxious participants were induced to engage in either an analytical or experiential processing mode during: (a) anticipatory processing before performing a speech (Experiment 1; N = 94), or (b) post-event rumination after performing a speech (Experiment 2; N = 74). Mood, cognition, and behavioural measures were employed to examine the effects of processing mode.ResultsFor high socially anxious participants, the modes had a similar effect on self-reported anxiety during both anticipatory processing and post-event rumination. Unexpectedly, relative to the analytical mode, the experiential mode led to stronger high standard and conditional beliefs during anticipatory processing, and stronger unconditional beliefs during post-event rumination.LimitationsThese experiments are the first to investigate processing mode during anticipatory processing and post-event rumination. Hence, these results are novel and will need to be replicated.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that an experiential processing mode is maladaptive relative to an analytical processing mode during repetitive thinking characteristic of socially anxious individuals.
► We examined processing mode during repetitive thinking in socially anxious students. ► Processing mode was varied during anticipatory processing and post-event rumination. ► An experiential mode led to more negative beliefs compared with an analytical mode. ► An experiential mode of repetitive thinking is unhelpful for social anxiety.
