The Use of Identity Structure Analysis (ISA) As an Aid to Assessment and Formulation of Social Anxiety

This case study takes an approach to the assessment and formulation of social anxiety that makes use of Identity Structure Analysis (Weinreich, 2003) alongside ratings obtained from the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale. Identity Structure Analysis uses a socio-developmental psychological approach to identity formation that places emphasis on biographical development in socio-historical settings. In doing so it offers insights into the nature of social anxiety. More particularly, ISA reveals (at various biographical stages) construals of identities of self and of the identities of influential others in various life domains (social, home, and work). It is proposed that ISA findings offer insights that might be used alongside conventional psychometrics serving as an aid to the assessment and formulation of social anxiety for the purposes of augmented CBT.