Effect of Attention Training or SSRIs on Symptoms and Neural Activation in Social Anxiety

Attention biases in threat processing have been assigned a prominent role in the etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders. The purpose of this study is to determine whether giving gaze-contingent feedback is an effective treatment for social anxiety disorder, compared to treatment with SSRI (Escitelopram) and a waitlist control. A secondary purpose is to explore the unique neuro-cognitive mechanisms of this treatment, using eye-tracking, MRI and fMRI measurements. Participants will be assessed using clinical interviews and self-rated questionnaires before, during and after 12 weeks of treatment or wait. Outcome measures will be social anxiety symptoms, as well as dwell time on threat in eye-tracking paradigms tested in previous studies, and BOLD signals in MRI measurements. Neuro-cognitive mechanisms will be explored as potential mediators of clinical efficacy.