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Quaderni di Psicoterapia Cognitiva - Open Access

Clinical cases

No. 51 (2022)

A clinical case report of Social Anxiety

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3280/qpc51-2022oa15184
Submitted
gennaio 9, 2023
Published
2023-01-18

Abstract

This article presents Monica’s clinical case, a 32-year-old woman who requires psychotherapy for a social anxiety disorder that is jeopardizing her new job. Social anxiety is defined as a cognitive-affective syndrome marked by apprehension and intense fear that occurs in social situations in which the person is subjected to the others’ evaluation or gaze (Grimaldi, 2008; Leary & Kowalski, 1995). Cognitive-behavioral approaches have studied and deepened the issues of social anxiety, with the formulation of various theories and models (Beck & Emery, 1985; Clark & Wells, 1995; Hofmann, 2007; Moscovitch, 2009; Orazi & Mancini, 2011; Rapee & Heimberg, 1997; Rapee, 2010; Schlenker & Leary, 1982b; Stopa, 2009). Starting with these models, effective treatments for social anxiety have been implemented, including cognitive-behavioral therapy treatment protocols that are the most validated and statistically effective to date. However, these models focus on maintenance mechanisms, without indicating how they might develop or specifying an etiological basis for the disorder (Wong et al., 2017), affecting the treatment setting. Monica’s case is formulated below by referring to the Integrated Cognitive Model (Grimaldi, 2019) based precisely on the integration of models and research from different areas in order to construct a psychopathological model that explains the development and maintenance of various social anxiety disorders, and on the basis of which to devise a more effective therapeutic intervention.

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