Dating with Social Anxiety Disorder (1 CE)

Number of Credits: 1

This course is for:  Clinical psychologists, Counselors, and LMFTs

Course By: Michael Parent, PhD

Content By: Asher, M., & Aderka, I. M. (2020). Dating with social anxiety: An empirical examination of momentary anxiety and desire for future interaction. Clinical Psychological Science, 8, 99-110. doi: 10.1177/2167702619867055

Course Description: Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) impairs the development and maintenance of friendships and romantic relationships. The authors conducted an experimental study in which they observed 80 dyads made up of either two individuals without SAD or one individual with and one individual without SAD. The dyads were also assigned to conversations intended to generate closeness or to mimic social small talk. The authors found that individuals with SAD experienced more momentary anxiety than those who did not have SAD; closeness-generating conversations generated more momentary anxiety than small talk; and men, but not women, with SAD experienced reductions in momentary anxiety in the closeness-generating condition. Future research may further explore gender differences in communication among individuals with SAD.

Learning Objectives:

1. Explain how social anxiety disorder can negatively impact relationship formation and maintenance
2. Explain the results of the study with regard to momentary anxiety during conversations, comparing participants with and without SAD
3. Identify differences in the small talk versus closeness-generating conversation conditions

Course Outline:

• Read and understand Dating with social anxiety: An empirical examination of momentary anxiety and desire for future interaction.
• Review the Course Description and Learning Objectives.
• Review the results of the experiment in small talk versus closeness-generating conversation among participants with and without SAD.
• Complete the post-test questions. Recall that answers should be based on the referenced article.
• Return to the referenced article for any missed questions and/or to understand momentary anxiety among individuals with SAD during small talk and closeness-generating conversation.

Implicit biases incorporate an association that occurs outside of conscious awareness that may resultantly lead to a negative patient evaluation derived from irrelevant characteristics; i.e. gender and/or race. A systematic review of the literature was conducted. Thirty-five studies identified the existence of implicit bias in healthcare professionals; all correlational studies evidenced a significant positive relationship between implicit bias levels and lower quality of care (FitzGerald & Hurst, 2017). Continued research in health care settings, combined with greater method homogeneity, should be employed to examine the occurrence and prevalence of implicit biases in healthcare settings as a strategic approach for mitigating related disparities (FitzGerald & Hurst, 2017).

Reference:

FitzGerald, C., Hurst, S. (2017). Implicit bias in healthcare professionals: a systematic review. BMC Med Ethics 18, 19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-017-0179-8

Approvals: