Safety Behaviors in Adults With Social Anxiety: Review and Future Directions.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review without systematic search or meta-analytic methodology
PubMed 27816080 · doi:10.1016/j.beth.2015.11.005
What was done
The authors conducted a narrative review synthesizing literature published over the prior two decades on the role of safety behaviors in social anxiety disorder (SAD). The review evaluated the mechanisms through which safety behaviors maintain social anxiety, their impact on exposure therapy outcomes, and relevant evidence from safety behavior research across other anxiety disorders.
What was found
The abstract reports no quantitative data or effect sizes. Qualitatively, the review notes that safety behaviors maintain social anxiety over time by preventing individuals from gathering evidence that would disconfirm maladaptive beliefs about social situations. Furthermore, the synthesis indicates that safety behavior use diminishes the efficacy of exposure treatment for SAD, and reducing safety behaviors during exposure enhances treatment response.
Why it matters
This review consolidates conceptual and clinical understanding of safety behaviors in SAD since seminal 1995 research, reinforcing the rationale for identifying and minimizing safety behaviors during exposure-based treatments.
Limits
The abstract describes a narrative review without reported systematic search parameters, inclusion criteria, or quantitative meta-analysis. No sample sizes, effect magnitudes, or specific study characteristics are reported in the abstract.
Cited by
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