Effectiveness of an AI-Integrated Proactive Thought Control Intervention for Young Adults With Social Anxiety Disorder

The Objective is to Examine the Effectiveness of Ai Integrated Proactive Thought Control for Social Anxiety Disorder and Compare Its Effectiveness With Active Control Group and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Participants With SAD Will be Recruited From Educational Setting, Will Get 8 Therapy Sessions.

Participants with Social Anxiety Disorder will be recruited from educational settings . After screening and informed consent, participants will be randomly assigned to PTC , ACG or CBT .The therapy session will be 8 session once a week, and data will be collected through psychological questionnaires in two phases at start and end of intervention.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Were between 18 and 26 years of age, corresponding to the developmental period of emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2000).
• Met DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for Social Anxiety Disorder on the SCID-5-RV (First et al., 2015).
• Scored at or above the clinical cutoff of 30 on the LSAS-SR, indicating clinically significant social anxiety (Mennin et al., 2002).
• Were not receiving any other form of psychological intervention at the time of the study.
• Had sufficient English proficiency to understand instructions and complete the assessments (Flores, 2006).
• Provided written informed consent.
• Possessed basic computer literacy and typing skills required for the digital tasks.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Were younger than 18 or older than 26 years.
• Did not meet DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for Social Anxiety Disorder on the SCID-5-RV.
• Scored in the clinically significant range for general anxiety (BAI ≥ 16; Beck et al., 1988) or at or above the threshold for moderate depression (BDI-II ≥ 20; Beck et al., 1996).
• Were currently receiving psychological treatment for any psychiatric condition.
• Had a lifetime history of a severe psychiatric disorder other than Social Anxiety Disorder (e.g., psychosis, bipolar disorder).
• Had a medical or neurological condition that could interfere with task completion or valid responding.
• Were unable to complete the study procedures or assessments.
• Had no prior experience using a computer.