Background: One of the most common anxiety disorders is the social anxiety disorder (SAD), which is characterized by intolerable anxiety and self-consciousness in daily social situations. A large body of study is conducted on the treatment of this disorder, though further studies are required on new psychological therapies.Objectives: The present study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of compassion focused therapy (CFT) on patients with SAD. Methods: The present randomized controlled trial study, which is along with pre-test, post-test, and follow-up with control group, 34 subjects who based on the structured clinical interview for DSM (SCID) had the criteria for social anxiety disorder on the basis of DSM-IV-TR, and had no other severe psychiatric disorders, were assigned completely randomly and equally into experimental and control groups. The experimental group was treated with 12 one-weekly CFT sessions, whereas the control group did not receive any treatment. At the beginning of the research, after 12 weeks and after a follow-up period of 8 weeks, all subjects were evaluated with acceptance and action questionnaire (AAQ-II), mindful attention awareness scale (MAAS), levels of self-criticism scale (LOSC), selfcompassion scale (SCS), World Health Organization quality of life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), and Liebowitz social anxiety scale (LSAS) instruments. In addition to descriptive statistics, repeated measure analysis of variance (RM-ANOVA) was used in order to analyze the findings and using SPSS-21 software all analyzes were conducted. Results:Based on the RM-ANOVA, CFT was significantly more effective than non-treatment in reducing psychological inflexibility, self-criticism, and severity of social anxiety symptoms (P < 0.001) in both post-test and two months' follow-up. Moreover, CFT was able to significantly increase the mindfulness levels, self-compassion, and quality of life in patients with social anxiety (P < 0.01).Conclusions: Compassion-focused interventions apparently play a quite effective role in reducing symptoms and increasing the quality of life of patients with social anxiety disorder.

Autistic traits (ATs) include symptoms associated with autism spectrum conditions (ASCs), which are assumed to be continuously distributed across the general population. Studies have indicated the cultural differences in the expression of ATs. Notwithstanding, our literature review indicated that studies on cross-cultural differences in the expression of ATs included samples from different countries. This is the first study designed to compare the expression of ATs between different ethnicities from the same country. Using the Autism-spectrum Quotient (AQ-28), we examined the possible cultural differences in the expression of autistic traits from four groups of students with different ethnic backgrounds, including Turkish (n = 262), Persian (n = 290), Kurdish (n = 300), and Luri (n = 307) students. Behaviors associated with autistic traits were reported overall higher for males than females. Also, significant cultural differences in autistic traits were found that were different for males and females. Furthermore, while the medical sciences student group scored significantly higher than the humanities group in the Imagination dimension, the humanities group had significantly higher scores in Number/Pattern dimensions than the engineering and medical sciences groups. Altogether, our results provide further support for the idea that the expression of ATs is significantly influenced by culture. A significant limitation of the current study was that groups were not matched with respect to age, percentage of male participants, and fields of studies and that these variables may influence the AQ scores.

Background: Body image shame considerably contributes to the development and persistence of eating and body image disorders. Objectives: The current study was done to determine the psychometric properties of the body image shame scale and introduce a suitable measure for researchers and therapists in the field of psychological health. Methods: In this study, 409 (136 men and 273 females) individuals who referred to cosmetic surgery clinics in Tehran were chosen. The construct validity of the body image shame was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis and divergent and convergent validity. To assess the divergent and convergent validity of the body compassion scale, appearance anxiety inventory, dysmorphic concern questionnaire and Forms of Self-Criticizing/Attacking and Self-Reassuring Scale were used. Internal Consistency and test-retest reliability (4 weeks’ interval) were used to evaluate reliability. LISREL V8.80 and SSPS V20 were used for data analysis. Results: The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the two-factor model (internal and external body image shame) fitted the data (RMSEA = 0.07, NFI = 0.94, CFI = 0.92). Body image shame scale had a positive, significant correlation with dysmorphic concern, appearance anxiety, and self-criticism, and a negative, significant correlation with body compassion (P < 0.05). Also, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, for the whole of scale, internal body image shame, and external body image shame were 0.85, 0.79, and 0.82, respectively. Conclusions: Psychometric properties of the persian version of the body image shame scale were confirmed in this study. Therefore, it can be used as a valid instrument in research and clinical works in populations with concerns about body image.

Background: Research indicates the increasing prevalence of high-risk behaviors among adolescents, which may have many causes. Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between spiritual well-being and other dimensions of well-being and the tendency for high-risk behaviors in adolescents, with an emphasis on the mediating role of personality traits. Methods: This is a descriptive and correlational study. The statistical population of the study consisted of all high school students in the second semester of the academic year 2018 - 2019 in the city of Tehran. Data collection tools were Spiritual, Psychological, Social, and Physical Well-being questionnaires, Iranian Adolescent Risk questionnaire, and PID-5 Personality Characteristics questionnaire-short version. SPSS V.22, R programming V.3.6, and AMOS V.24 were used to analyze the data. Results: The results showed that there is a significant relationship between spiritual well-being and other aspects of well-being, i.e., physical health (r = 0.28), social well-being (r = 0.39), psychological well-being (r = 0.44), with P < 0.01 for all. There was also a significant negative relationship between spiritual well-being and components of high-risk behavior (r = 0.48, P < 0.01). In addition, personality traits were found to play a significant role as a mediating variable in the relationship between spiritual well-being and high-risk behaviors. Conclusions: Spiritual well-being is a factor affecting other aspects of well-being and reducing risky behaviors, and personality traits play an important role in mediating the relationship between spiritual well-being and other dimensions of well-being and high-risk behaviors.

Background Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is characterized by disturbing and unwanted thoughts as well as repetitive and time-consuming behaviors that interfere with performance. Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) has shown to have beneficial effects on reducing OCD symptoms as the first line of treatment. Moreover, Virtual Reality (VR) has been a more feasible and accessible intervention for OCD in recent years. Regarding the point, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual reality exposure and response prevention (VRERP) in the treatment of the OCD contamination subtype. Methods A total number of 36 adults with OCD-contamination subtype were registered and randomly assigned to the intervention and control groups. The intervention group received a 60-min CBT including a “contaminated” virtual environment while the control group received CBT as a standardized treatment. Out of these, 29 patients completed the treatment in 12 weekly sessions. The patients completed the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Obsessive Beliefs Questionnaire-44(OBQ-44), and World Health Organization Disability Assessment Scale-2 (WHODAS-2) at week 0, week 12 and after 3 months follow-up. Results Based on the results of the repeated measure analysis of variances, the total score of obsession and compulsion subscales of Y-BOCS significantly decreased as a primary outcome in the intervention group (F = 60.97, P < 0.001, partial eta squared = 0.82; F = 20.46, P < 0.001, partial eta squared = 0.61; F = 29.57, P < 0.001, partial eta squared = 0.69; respectively). The total score of BDI-II and BAI was reduced in both groups but there was no significant difference between them (BDI-II: F = 0.54, P = 0.47, partial eta squared = 0.02; BAI: F = 3.12, P = 0.06, partial eta squared = 0.19). However, there was a significant difference in the OBQ-44 (F = 16.78, P < 0.001, partial eta squared = 0.56) and the total WHODAS-2 score between the groups (F = 14.64, P < 0.001, partial eta squared = 0.53). Conclusions This study demonstrated the effectiveness of VRERP in the treatment of the OCD-contamination subtype. Therefore, VRERP can be used in CBT as an alternative exposure tool. Trial registration Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials, IRCT ID: IRCT20210214050353N1, Registered on 16/10/2021.