Autobiographical memory and the self in social phobia

Throughout life people have many experiences that are encoded at different
levels of abstraction in AM. Our self-images and goals are defined from this
knowledge. According to the Self-Memory-System theory (SMS; Conway &
Pleydell-Pearce, 2000), the self, consisting of self-images and the goals of an
individual, is based on autobiographical memory (AM). Conversely, the self
guides the allocation of attention and the encoding of information in memory in
line with our goals. The self also guides the retrieval of memories that are
relevant to our goal-directed behaviour. In short, there is an interaction
between the self and AM which guides the encoding as well as retrieval of
memories. In this study it is investigated to what extent social phobic
individuals experience this disorder as self-defining. That is, to what extent
the disorder is a part of the self.
Sutherland and Bryant (2005) showed that the relation between AM and the self
plays a role in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Participants were a group
with PTSD, a group that was exposed to a traumatic experience but did not have
PTSD, and a healthy control group without traumatic experiences. Participants
were asked to retrieve five memories of events that defined who they are today.
The PTSD group retrieved more negative memories than the control groups and
fewer positive memories than the healthy control group. The PTSD group also
retrieved more trauma-related memories than the group with traumatic experience
but without PTSD. Participants were also asked about their current goals. The
number of trauma-related goals was positively related to the number of
trauma-related memories retrieved by the participant. In a second study (2008),
the researchers showed that a PTSD group reported more trauma-related memories
in response to both positive and negative cue words than a group with traumatic
experience but without PTSD. The PTSD group also had a larger discrepancy
between the way they viewed their current self and how they would like to be.
This self-discrepancy was positively correlated with the number of
trauma-related memories that were retrieved in response to positive cue words.
These studies support a relation between AM, the self and PTSD.

The goal of the present study is to investigate whether the relation between
AM, the self, and psychopathology can also be found in other disorders than
PTSD; and in social phobia specifically. The SMS theory (Conway &
Pleydell-Pearce, 2000) does not suggest that the relation between these
concepts is specific for PTSD. However, other disorders have not been
investigated in this light. The present study investigates the question whether
the relation between AM, the self and psychopathology is specific for PTSD or
if this relation is also present in another disorder (social phobia).

The study has a quasi-experimental design.

The completion of the questionnaires and measures will take around 60 minutes
per participant. This estimation is based on a pilot study at the Radboud
University that included mostly the same measures within a healthy student
population (this study took around 45 minutes per participant). The study is on
location (ProPersona Overwaal) and participants have to travel there for
participation. If possible, the testing session is scheduled before or after a
therapeutic session in order to avoid extra travel time for patient
participants. In our view there are no risks involved in participation.