A Conceptual Review of Models and Findings Regarding Attention Bias for Social Anxiety

Social anxiety disorder is a highly prevalent condition. It is characterized by an intense fear of negative evaluation in social situations and is associated with a reduced quality of life, increased risk for other psychopathologies and economic costs. Social anxiety, like other anxiety conditions, entails biased information processing, including attentional bias for threatening information. Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for social anxiety, but many individuals do not seek help due to various barriers and the nature of the disorder itself. Attention bias modification therapy (ABMT) is a computerized intervention that has already accumulated significant support when applied to other anxiety conditions that shows promise in overcoming these obstacles. ABMT typically aims to redirect the attention of socially anxious individuals away from negative faces. The present conceptual review starts with an overview of the theoretical models of anxiety, which highlight the importance of attention biases in maintaining anxiety. It then summarizes the evidence for attention biases in social anxiety and the evidence in support and against ABMT for this disorder. This overview indicates that ABMT offers a potential avenue for modifying attentional processes in anxiety and holds promise as a novel treatment approach for social anxiety disorder, addressing the barriers to seeking traditional therapy and targeting attention biases directly.