Comparison of Facial Expressions and Spontaneous Negative Thoughts in Individuals with and without Social Anxiety Symptoms

Introduction: The aim of this study was to compare facial emotional manifestations and negative spontaneous thoughts in people with social anxiety and normal people. Method: This research was descriptive and comparative causal. The statistical population included all people with social anxiety disorder who referred to Mehregan Counseling Center in Mashhad. The normal population included people who did not receive a diagnosis of social anxiety disorder. According to the size of the population and the available sampling method, the sample included 30 individuals with social anxiety disorder and 30 normal individuals who did not receive any symptoms based on the scale of social anxiety disorder and the diagnosis of clinical psychologist. In order to evaluate this research, the questionnaire of negative spontaneous thoughts, social anxiety and the Ekman facial emotion manifestation test were used. Independent t-test was used to analyze the data. Results: The findings revealed that there was a significant difference between facial emotion manifestations and negative spontaneous thoughts in both groups. Also, the difference between the means in the component of negative spontaneous thoughts was 31.50 and the difference between the means in the component of facial emotions was 21.73 (p <0.05). Conclusion: According to the findings, it can be said that people with symptoms of social anxiety have problems with facial expressions and negative spontaneous thoughts.