SynthesisFrontiers in human neuroscience2021
Physical Activity as a Treatment for Social Anxiety in Clinical and Non-clinical Populations: A Systematic Review and Three Meta-Analyses for Different Study Designs.
Synthesis in Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effects of exercise on anxiety and psychiatric comorbidities in children with autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Comparative Effectiveness of Multiple Exercise Interventions in the Treatment of Mental Health Disorders: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.Sports medicine - open · 2022Pooled it
- Effects of Commercial Exergames vs. Traditional Indoor Exercise on Mood in Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The Association Between Social Anxiety and Sleep Among Young People: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Child psychiatry and human development · 2026Review
- Exercise as an adjunct intervention for social anxiety disorder: a mini-review.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Generalized Isometric Sustained Contraction During Apnea Combined with Relaxation for Anxiety: A First Evaluation.Clinical practice and epidemiology in mental health : CP & EMH · 2026Article
- Within-person reciprocal associations among physical activity, loneliness, and social anxiety in adolescence.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Physical activity and social anxiety among rural-origin university students in Southwest China: exploring potential associative patterns of body image satisfaction and social capital.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- An avoidance trap? Within-person dynamics between social interaction anxiety and the tendency to avoid physical activity and sport among Chinese university students: a four-wave random-intercept cross-lagged panel study.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Can physical exercise alleviate social anxiety in junior high school students by improving body image?Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Exercise, cognition, and affective disorders.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Review
- Longitudinal Associations between Weight Self-Stigma, Physical Exercise, and Social Anxiety among Adolescents: Between-and Within-Person Effects.The Psychiatric quarterly · 2025Article
- Is physical exercise associated with reduced adolescent social anxiety mediated by psychological resilience?: evidence from a longitudinal multi-wave study in China.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2025Article
- Social anxiety among young adults in Switzerland: a cross-sectional study on associations with sports and social support.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- The mediating role of sleep quality on the relationship between physical activity and social anxiety disorder among Chinese college freshmen.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Associations of generalized anxiety and social anxiety symptoms with sleep duration, amount of intense exercise, and excessive internet use among adolescents.BMC psychiatry · 2024Article
- Physical activity and social anxiety symptoms among Chinese college students: a serial mediation model of psychological resilience and sleep problems.BMC psychology · 2024Article
- Exercise as Treatment for "Stress-Related" Mental Disorders.Current neuropharmacology · 2024Article
- Childhood Maltreatment and Adolescent Eating Disorders' Symptoms: A Moderated Mediation Model of Social Anxiety and Physical Activity.Psychology research and behavior management · 2024Article
- Emotional abuse and depressive symptoms among the adolescents: the mediation effect of social anxiety and the moderation effect of physical activity.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The fear of being in the focus of attention in social situations can develop into a social anxiety disorder (SAD). The classical treatment for SAD is cognitive behavioral therapy, which is in many cases accompanied by drug treatments. A promising alternative treatment is physical activity (PA) interventions, because regular PA has been shown to be suitable for reducing anxiety in general. We conducted a pre-registered systematic review and meta-analysis (PROSPERO registration no. CRD42020191181) as well as two additional searches. Our aim was to investigate whether PA interventions are a suitable treatment for SAD and whether PA is suitable for reducing social anxiety (SA) in general. For studies with randomized controlled trial designs, a not statistically significant effect of medium size toward lower general SA symptomatology was found in the PA group in comparison with the control group (
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.