This study investigated that cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between depressive/anxiety symptoms and social skills in junior high school students. In the current study, 248 junior high school students completed the same questionnaires about social skills, depression, and anxiety at both Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2), 3 months apart. First, hierarchal regression analyses at T1 indicated that withdrawal-behaviors were positively related to both depression and anxiety, and that prosocial-skills were negatively related to depression, whereas positively related to anxiety. Second, longitudinal effects were examined using hierarchal regression analyses after controlling for symptoms at T1. The results indicated that anxiety at T1 predicted increases in depressive symptoms at T2. Moreover, withdrawal-behaviors at T1 predicted increases in anxiety symptoms at T2. Finally, implications for future research and practice for junior high school students with depressive and anxiety symptoms are discussed.

Post-Event Processing (PEP) is defined that ruminating about anxiety-evoking social events; it is a key factor contributing to social anxiety. Although previous studies have shown that rumination and worry similar to PEP in terms of repetitive thinking style are related to attentional control functions, the relevance of PEP and attentional control functions has not been clarified. Moreover, no instrument has been developed to measure the observer's perspective during PEP. We investigated the relation between the PEP of an experimental social situation and attentional control functions with developing the Functional Recall Vantage Perspective Scale during PEP. Undergraduate students completed several questionnaires and a cognitive task measuring their attentional control functions. They then participated in a speech task. The following day, we measured the PEP of the speech task and conducted a correlation analysis between the PEP scores and the attentional control function scores. The results indicated that the Observer–Avoidance perspective subscale of the Functional Recall Vantage Perspective Scale can measure the observer's perspective of PEP. Furthermore, they also showed that negative PEP and the Observer–Avoidance perspective are negatively correlated with selective attentional control functions. Therefore, to decrease PEP in particular, focusing on selective attention may be beneficial.

Patients with anxiety and/or depressive disorders often experience sudden intense feelings of distressing emotions, including sadness, anxiety, loneliness, gloom and so on, without any apparent psychological reason. Tearfulness often precedes or accompanies such emotional outburst. In addition to these emotional symptoms, mild physiological symptoms similar to those seen in a panic attack, such as palpitations, dizziness, trembling and so on, may appear. Immediately after this emotional outburst, distressing trains of thought or images related to recent or past unpleasant events are experienced and ruminated on repeatedly. They are often manifested as flashbacks with or without visual images. Since these conditions are the bitterest experiences for most patients, they may cope with them in various ways such as deliberate self-harm. These patients generally have a more or less depressive mood. These conditions are considerably different from a panic attack, in that the emotional and cognitive storm dominates the physical one. The author named this condition as an Anxious-Depressive Attack (ADA). In this study, we present five cases of ADA and discuss their psychopathology and differential diagnoses. To the author's knowledge, this is the first report proposing the term ADA, which is a unique but common syndrome. Awareness regarding ADA may help improve understanding and treatment of the patient.

We surveyed public awareness of selective mutism in terms of diagnosis, treatment, and education in Japan. In DSM-5, selective mutism was reclassified as an anxiety disorder. Therefore, we expect the change to promote a better understanding of the problem and to focus greater attention on adults with selective mutism. We described the important aspects, such as management of children upon the first visit to a hospital, based on practical experience from K Pediatrics Clinic, which has provided treatment for many children with selective mutism. Specifically, we examined the symptoms related to nonverbal communication and nonspeaking behavior. Although the incidence of selective mutism is controversial, we introduced a large-scale survey recently conducted in Japan and outlined the management of children with selective mutism in schools. According to the survey, the incidence of selective mutism in grade-school children was 0.15–0.11% for boys and 0.20% for girls. In conclusion, we introduced the ICF approved by the World Health Organization and the WHODAS 2.0, which was derived from the ICF. We discussed the importance of the approach to a solution to the level of social participation, including studies to provide patient-led views of selective mutism, as well as physiological and individual level solutions in order to resolve the problem of selective mutism.

The purpose of this meta-analysis is to examine the association between social anxiety disorder and cortisol response to psychological stressors. A total of 9 studies comparing individuals diagnosed with social anxiety disorder (SA: N=265) and healthy controls (HC: N=199) were included. Effect sizes were calculated and averaged across baseline (before stressor onset), stress (stressor onset up to 25 min after stressor offset), and recovery (more than 25 min after stressor offset) periods. Overall, SA individuals exhibited higher cortisol levels at all time periods. This result indicates that SA individuals exhibit exaggerated cortisol response not only in the face of social stressors, but also through pre and post-stress cognitive processing.

Extinction training establishes extinction learning and, thus, inhibits conditioned fear responses. However, fear responses may return because extinction learning cannot affect memory trace that is the origin of fear. Exposure therapy, which is based on the extinction learning paradigm, is used to treat anxiety disorders. Relapses of anxiety disorders after exposure therapy have also been reported. Consequently, treatments, which can prevent the return of fear responses, are needed. Recently, a mechanism known as memory reconsolidation has been receiving much attention. Consolidated memory traces are destabilized after they have been retrieved. Those memory traces are stabilized again by means of the reconsolidation process. During reconsolidation, retrieved fear memory can be updated. Furthermore, recent studies have shown that extinction training during reconsolidation updates fear memory and prevents the return of fear responses. Further studies are required to determine the effects of reconsolidation interventions on anxiety disorders.