Articlegreen2013

Commitment to a purpose in life: An antidote to the suffering by individuals with social anxiety disorder.

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Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes Optimism, Hope, and Well-being

Abstract

Recent acceptance- and mindfulness-based cognitive-behavioral interventions explicitly target the clarification and commitment to a purpose in life. Yet, scant empirical evidence exists on the value of purpose as a mechanism relevant to psychopathology or well-being. The present research explored daily (within-person) fluctuations in purposeful pursuits and well-being in a community sample of 84 adults with (n = 41) and without (n = 43) the generalized subtype of social anxiety disorder (SAD). After completing an idiographic measure of purpose in life, participants monitored their effort and progress toward this purpose, along with their well-being each day. Across 2 weeks of daily reports, we found that healthy controls reported increased self-esteem, meaning in life, positive emotions, and decreased negative emotions. People with SAD experienced substantial boosts in well-being indicators on days characterized by significant effort or progress toward their life purpose. We found no evidence for the reverse direction (with well-being boosting the amount of effort or progress that people with SAD devote to their purpose), and effects could not be attributed to comorbid mood or anxiety disorders. Results provide evidence for how commitment to a purpose in life enriches the daily existence of people with SAD. The current study supports principles that underlie what many clinicians are already doing with clients for SAD.

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References

1965Society and the Adolescent Self-Image 1989Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being.1999Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress.2005Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Model, processes and outcomes 1999Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: An Experiential Approach to Behavior Change 1946Man's Search for Meaning 1996Development and validation of the State Hope Scale.1998Development and validation of measures of social phobia scrutiny fear and social interaction anxiety11Editor’s note: This article was written before the development of some contemporary measures of social phobia, such as the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (Turner et al., 1989). We have invited this article for publication because of the growing interest in the scales described therein. S.T.

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2018Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for the Management of Suicidal Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial 2021Relationships between Mindfulness, Purpose in Life, Happiness, Anxiety, and Depression: Testing a Mediation Model in a Sample of Women 2026Sense of Purpose and Maladaptive Personality Traits in Older Adulthood

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