Childhood Maltreatment, Shame‐Proneness and Self‐Criticism in Social Anxiety Disorder: A Sequential Mediational Model

Previous research has shown that histories of emotional abuse and emotional neglect predict social anxiety symptoms, but the mechanisms that underlie these associations are not clear. Using psycho-evolutionary and emotion-focused perspectives, the findings of the current study suggest that shame and self-criticism play an important role in social anxiety and may mediate the link between emotional abuse and symptoms. These findings also suggest that therapeutic interventions specifically targeting shame and self-criticism should be incorporated into treatments for social anxiety, especially with socially anxious patients with abuse histories.