Social phobia

Abstract

Social phobia (SP, also sometimes called social anxiety disorder) is common, impairing and responsive to treatment (Kessler et al., 1994, Schneier et al., 1994). It has also been termed “the neglected anxiety disorder” because it is often missed as a diagnosis (Liebowitz, 1999). A study showed that on subsequent administration of the SP section of the MINI questionnaire to patients who had presented with other psychiatric diagnoses, but had not been diagnosed by their physician as having SP, almost 25% met screening criteria for SP (Den Boer & Dunner, 1999). Therefore, physician recognition of SP remains suboptimal. Individuals with SP are 4 times more likely than the general population to develop other anxiety and mood disorders. They are also more likely to abuse alcohol and other substances. Social phobia is the most prevalent anxiety disorder and third most common psychiatric disorder in the US. However, this psychopathology is often underdiagnosed and a survey in Europe indicated that a diagnosis of phobia was made by general practitioners in only 24.2% of social phobics (Weiller et al., 1996). A recent, large-scale epidemiological study in the US showed that the 12-month prevalence rate of SP was 7.9% (6.6% for men, 9.1% for women) and 13.3% (11.1% for men, 15.5% for women) (Kessler et al., 1994). Another study which examined the prevalence of SP in the Swedish general population reported that the prevalence of this disorder was estimated at 15.6% but this prevalence rate varied between 1.9 and 20.4% across the different levels of distress and impairment that were used to define cases (Furmark et al., 1999).