Antecedents of the risk of recovery from DSM-III-R social phobia

Abstract

Our data indicate that social phobia in the general population is a chronic and unremittent disorder. Determinants of recovery are rooted in distal childhood circumstances, disorder attributes, and the physical and mental health status of individuals over the life course.

Social fears and social phobia in the USA: results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication

“…This raises the question why so many prior studies failed to detect the genuinely high proportion of the population with the disorder. Lower estimates in some studies than others , Andrews et al, 2001, Bijl et al, 1998, Davidson et al, 1994, DeWit et al, 1999, Grant et al, 2005, Stein et al, 1996, Stein et al, 1994 may have resulted from differences in methodology or assessment (e.g., variation in the number and kinds of social situations assessed or in the diagnostic system used) or may reflect genuine differences between countries or cultures in the prevalence of the disorder . Clinical validation studies of the sort included in the NCS-R would be needed to adjudicate between these possibilities.…”

Impact of depression on treatment effectiveness and gains maintenance in social phobia: a naturalistic study of cognitive behavior group therapy

“…[2,3] In the absence of treatment, SP is a chronic lifelong disorder with little spontaneous remission course. [4] The DSM-IV-TR [5] distinguishes between generalized social phobia (GSP) and non-generalized or specific social phobia (SSP) subtypes. GSP is characterized by fear of multiple social situations, whereas SSPs fears are circumscribed to a small number of situations.…”

Residential cognitive therapy versus residential interpersonal therapy for social phobia: A randomized clinical trial

“…It is a common disorder: epidemiological studies (Fresco, Erwin, Heimberg, & Turk, 2000;Kessler et al, 1994;Kringlen, Torgersen, & Cramer, 2001) have found lifetime prevalence rates of about 13%. Left untreated, the disorder has a chronic course (DeWit, Ogborne, Offord, & MacDonald, 1999;Keller, 2003), and severely impairs social role functioning and career progression (Wittchen & Fehm, 2003). It also represents an influential risk factor for suicidal behavior (Keller, 2003).…”