Social anxiety following traumatic brain injury: an exploration of associated factors

Abstract

Social anxiety (SA) following traumatic brain injury (TBI) has the potential to affect an individual's general psychological well-being and social functioning, however little research has explored factors associated with its development. The present study used hierarchical multiple regression to investigate the demographic, clinical and psychological factors associated with SA following TBI. A sample of 85 people who experienced TBI were recruited through social media websites and brain injury services across the North-West of England. The overall combined biopsychosocial model was significant, explaining 52-54.3% of the variance in SA (across five imputations of missing data). The addition of psychological variables (self-esteem, locus of control, self-efficacy) made a significant contribution to the overall model, accounting for an additional 12.2-13% of variance in SA above that explained by demographic and clinical variables. Perceived stigma was the only significant independent predictor of SA (B = .274, p = .005). The findings suggest that psychological variables are important in the development of SA following TBI and must be considered alongside clinical factors. Furthermore, the significant role of stigma highlights the need for intervention at both an individualised and societal level.

Perceived stigma and its association with participation following traumatic brain injury.

“…Thus, no conclusions can be drawn regarding causality. Just as Curvis and colleagues (2016) suggested regarding the implications of their finding that social anxiety correlated with perceived stigma, it is possible that the findings of the present study indicate that individuals with TBI who are depressed and/or anxious perceive higher levels of stigma or that individuals who perceive higher levels of stigma subsequently feel more depressed and/or anxious. It is also conceivable that this association is cyclical in nature, but further research with longitudinal data will be needed to elucidate this relationship.…”

“…To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the association between perceived stigma and community participation in individuals with TBI. A study of social anxiety following TBI included perceived stigma as a correlate and demonstrated an association between these two variables (Curvis et al, 2016). The purpose of the present study was to increase understanding of perceived stigma in individuals with TBI, and its association with community participation, as this is an understudied but important area of research because of its clinical implications.…”

“…Thus, individuals with TBI who experience depression and/or anxiety may be at greater risk of perceiving ambiguous events as negative and negative experiences as a result of their history of TBI, thereby potentially contributing to increased perceived stigma. In a study focusing on social anxiety following TBI, it was found that social anxiety was correlated with perceived stigma (Curvis, Simpson, & Hampson, 2016). Based on the results of regression analysis, it was concluded that perceived stigma was a predictor of social anxiety, but the cross-sectional nature of the study was acknowledged and the researchers offered another possible explanation.…”

Position Paper on Post-Traumatic Headache: The Relationship Between Head Trauma, Stress Disorder, and Migraine

“…Anxiety disorders may occur in one fourth of patients with PTH. Anxiety was also found to be linked to cognitive impairment, and depression has been found to be predictive of social anxiety in clinical traumatic head injury models [56]. Anxiety has also found to be linked to sleep disorders and fatigue.…”

CRF Mediates Stress-Induced Pathophysiological High-Frequency Oscillations in Traumatic Brain Injury

“…TBI is associated with the development of neurocognitive deficits, such as impaired attention and depression (30–70% of people with TBI develop depression; Roozenbeek et al, 2013). In particular, mild TBI has been shown to predispose people to psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety, depression, mood disorders, and disruptive behaviors (Curvis et al, 2016; Emery et al, 2016). Among these individuals, TBI is also a leading cause of acquired epilepsy (Campbell et al, 2014; Wilson et al, 2017; Xu et al, 2017; Zimmermann et al, 2017).…”