Mediator, Moderator, and Etiology of Social Anxiety Disorder Essay Example

Etiology is defined as the causes, risks, predictors, and influences of a human condition or disease. Many factors cause individuals to develop SAD such as bullying, negative experiences, and loneliness. Oren, Melamud & Aderka (2022) wanted to understand the relationship between loneliness and SAD and whether loneliness would increase or decrease in individuals with SAD or without SAD. They found that loneliness increased in individuals with SAD and helped maintain the disorder. They also hypothesized that positive, negative, and meaningfulness of social interactions would predict loneliness however their results indicated that these types of social interactions did not affect the loneliness of those with and without SAD. 

Mediators are the reason for the effect while Moderation contextualizes the effect. In a study conducted by Rozen et al., these authors examined how CBGT or Cognitive Behavior Group Therapy affects individuals with SAD and individuals with both SAD and comorbid MDD. The authors compared two mediator models and reversal models between individuals with MDD and those without MDD. They found that for those without MDD, social anxiety significantly mediated the relationship between time and depression (Rozen et al., 2022). A was indicated to be Time, B was Social Anxiety symptoms and C was depressive symptoms. In the reversal model, B and C were swapped. Depressive symptoms were found to decrease after treatment. Time impacts depressive symptoms because time increases social anxiety symptoms which lead to depressive symptoms. For those with both SAD and MDD, the authors found that social anxiety did not significantly mediate the relationship between time and depression during treatment (Rozen et al., 2022). In this mediational model, A was time, B was depressive symptoms and C was social anxiety symptoms. In the reversal, B and C were swapped as well. They also found that among those with MDD, neither depression nor social anxiety mediated changes during treatment. In another study conducted by Strauss et al., these researchers used partner-related attachment as a moderator for patients with social anxiety disorder. They were investigating whether attachment led to patients prematurely terminating their treatment either CBT or psychodynamic therapy (PDT). The results of their study found that attachment did not affect a patient's decision to terminate their treatment (Strauss et al., 2017). The moderator model for this experiment was A being the patients with SAD, B as an attachment, and C as treatment. Attachment whether high or low does not cause patients to terminate treatment. 

Reference

Rozen, N., Gilboa-Schechtman, E., Marom, S., Hermesh, H., & Aderka, I. M. (2022). Comorbid major depressive disorder in cognitive-behavior group treatment for social anxiety disorder: An examination of processes of symptom change. Psychotherapy, 59(1), 48-56. doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000413

Strauss, B., Koranyi, S., Altmann, U., Nolte, T., Beutel, M. E., Wiltink, J., . . . Kirchmann, H. (2017). Partner-related attachment as a moderator of outcome in patients with social anxiety disorder—a comparison between short-term cognitive–behavioral and psychodynamic therapy. Psychotherapy, 54(4), 339-350. doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000129

Oren-Yagoda, R., Melamud-Ganani, I., & Aderka, I. M. (2022). All by myself: Loneliness in social anxiety disorder. Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, 131(1), 4-13. doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000705.