Self-control and engagement with self-help for social anxiety

Cognitive behavioural treatment (CBT) has been shown to be efficacious for social anxiety disorder. Nevertheless, not all participants improve. Evidence suggests that self-control is a malleable ability with potential for practical applications in treatment. The aim of the current study is to examine a role for self-control in treatment and the impact of a brief self-control intervention on engagement with a self-help CBT exercise for social anxiety. 31 undergraduate participants, who volunteered on the basis that they would like to decrease their social anxiety, were randomly allocated to receive either a brief self-control intervention addressing sleep, diet or exercise or to monitor their behaviour in relation to similar activities over a two week period. All participants were then provided with a chapter from a self-help book for social anxiety describing cognitive challenging of unhelpful thoughts. Participants reported how often they engaged with the exercise. Self-control was not correlated with increased engagement and the self-control intervention did not increase self-control or improve engagement with the self-help exercise. The findings suggest that self-control is not associated with CBT treatment via the mechanisms examined in the current study.