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The Relation Between Mindfulness and Fear of Negative Evaluation Over the Course of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder
Author(s) -
Burton Mark,
Schmertz Stefan K.,
Price Matthew,
Masuda Akihiko,
Anderson Page L.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.21929
Subject(s) - mindfulness , moderation , psychology , anxiety , clinical psychology , cognitive therapy , social anxiety , mindfulness based cognitive therapy , cognitive behavioral therapy , randomized controlled trial , fear of negative evaluation , exposure therapy , cognition , psychotherapist , psychiatry , medicine , social psychology
Objectives This study examined the relation between mindfulness and fear of negative evaluation over the course of nonmindfulness based cognitive‐behavioral therapy (CBT) for social anxiety disorder (SAD). We expected that higher levels of mindfulness would be associated with a more positive response to treatment. Method This study is a secondary report from a randomized controlled trial in which participants (N = 65) diagnosed with SAD were randomly assigned to receive 8 weeks of 1 of 2 manualized treatments (exposure group therapy, n = 33; or virtual reality exposure therapy, n = 32) either immediately or following an 8 week waiting period. Results Fear of negative evaluation decreased following treatment and was negatively related to mindfulness throughout treatment and follow‐up. Mindfulness did not moderate treatment outcome. Conclusions These findings indicate that while mindfulness is related to fear, it is not a moderator of symptom reduction in nonmindfulness‐based treatment. Implications for treatment and future research are discussed.