The effectiveness of therapeutic method of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing on social anxiety

The present study carried out to examine the effectiveness of therapeutic method of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) on social anxiety. 24 individuals were selected who refereed to psychological clinic and consulting center of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad and had been diagnosed as social anxiety disorder on based on DSM-IV-TR criteria. Subjects were then assigned into two groups each with 12 members as experimental and control groups (7 females and 5 males in each group). At first, both two groups were evaluated by social phobia inventory (SPIN) and Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (FNES). Then therapeutic method of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing was administered to the experimental group. At the end, two groups were again evaluated by two scales. Results showed that there are significant difference between mean of social anxiety (SA), avoidance, fear and physiological arousal on pre and post- intervention in experimental group (p