Social anxiety disorder exhibit impaired networks involved in self and theory of mind processing

Most previous studies regarding social anxiety disorder (SAD) have focused on the role of emotional dysfunction, while impairments in self- and theory of mind (ToM)-processing have relatively been neglected. This study utilised functional connectivity density (FCD), resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and discriminant analyses to investigate impairments in self- and ToM-related networks in patients with SAD. Patients with SAD exhibited decreased long-range FCD in the right rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) and decreased short-range FCD in the right superior temporal gyrus (STG)—key nodes involved in self- and ToM-processing, respectively. Decreased RSFC of the right rACC and STG with widespread frontal, temporal, posteromedial, sensorimotor, and somatosensory, regions was also observed in patients with SAD. Altered RSFC between the right rACC and bilateral superior frontal gyrus, between the right rACC and right middle frontal gyrus, and within the right STG itself provided the greatest contribution to individual diagnoses of SAD, with an accuracy of 84.5%. These results suggest that a lack of cognitive inhibition on emotional self-referential processing as well as impairments in social information integration may play critical roles in the pathomechanism of SAD and highlight the importance of recognising such features in the diagnosis and treatment of SAD.