Children with social anxiety will be randomly assigned to either Attention Bias Modification Treatment (ABMT) designed to direct attention away from threat or a placebo control condition not designed to change attention patterns. Outcome measures will be depression and social anxiety symptoms as measured by gold standard questionnaires as well as diagnosis of social phobia disorder and symptom counts derived from structured clinical interviews with children and their parents. We expect to see significant reduction in social anxiety symptoms in the Attention Bias Modification Treatment (ABMT) group relative to the placebo control group.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
QUADRUPLE
Enrollment
67
Behavioral: Attention Bias Modification Treatment (ABMT) Attention training using a computerized spatial attention task (dot-probe) modified to alter threat-related attention patterns.
Attention training using a computerized spatial attention task (dot-probe) not intended to alter threat-related attention patterns.
Tel-Aviv University
Tel Aviv, Israel
Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV (ADIS)
The ADIS is a semi-structured interview assessing anxiety, mood and externalizing disorders in children according to DSM-IV criteria.
Time frame: expected average time frame of 6 weeks. Participants will be assessed before and after the administriation of the training/control protocols.
Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for Children (SPAI-C) and for Parents (SPAI-c-p)
The SPAI is a 26-item self and parent-report instrument designed to assess social anxiety in children and adolescents. Items assess a range of potentially anxiety-producing situations.
Time frame: expected average time frame of 6 weeks. Participants will be assessed before and after the administriation of the training/control protocols.
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