The Self-Regulatory Executive Function model [S-REF; Wells, A., & Matthews, G. (1996). Modelling cognition in emotional disorder: the S-REF model. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 34, 881-888] proposes that metacognitive beliefs, inflexible self-focused attention, and perseverative thinking (rumination and worry) play an important role in maintaining emotional dysfunction. Attention training [AT...

For people with social anxiety, ongoing exposure to feared situations is crucial for both treatment and the prevention of relapse. The COVID-19 pandemic—with prolonged, often enforced, reductions in people's contact—reduced such may thus have exacerbated anxiety symptoms. In this three-wave longitudinal study (N = 212) we explored whether membership multiple groups could protect against anticip...

Holding oral presentations in a university course is perceived as stressful and can increase stress hormone concentrations and state anxiety. In such a naturalistic setting, further attention should be paid to the relationship between psychological and hormonal measures of acute stress, as well as women's intake of hormonal contraceptives as a potential moderating variable. In the present study...