Size and burden of social phobia in Europe

Abstract

This paper provides a critical review of the prevalence of social phobia in European countries, a description of associated disability and burden and of clinical correlates and risk factors associated with social phobia. On the basis of a comprehensive literature search we identified 21 community studies and two primary care studies. The median lifetime and 12-month prevalence rates of social phobia in community samples referring to DSM-III-R and DSM-IV criteria were 6.65% and 2.0%, respectively. Younger individuals showed the highest rates, and women were more frequently affected than men. Social phobia was shown to be a persistent condition with a remarkably high degree of comorbid conditions, associated impairment and disability. Research deficits lie in a lack of data for most EU countries and in a lack of studies in children and the elderly. No data are available addressing met and unmet needs for intervention and costs, and data for vulnerability and risk factors of malignant course are scarce.

Social phobia and number of social fears, and their association with comorbidity, health-related quality of life and help seeking

“…Our result for mean age of onset (19.3 years) is consistent with earlier community based studies (14.6-24.3 years) [8,13,22,23,38]. Similar to the previous results [4,8,9], social phobia lasts a long time with a mean duration of 19.2 years in our sample. The demographic results of the present study are mainly consistent with the majority of the previous studies.…”

“…Respondents who are female, younger, less well educated and not working are more likely to have social phobia [6,8,11,13,15,22,23]. Furthermore, social phobia was found to occur more in single parents and those who live alone [9,28].…”

Familial risk factors in social anxiety disorder: calling for a family-oriented approach for targeted prevention and early intervention

“…Rates for 12-month prevalences or more narrow time frames similarly vary considerably from 0.4% [79] to 7.9% [54], probably due to different sampling, study designs, assessment strategies and applied diagnostic criteria. Overall, the average lifetime prevalence is about 6.7% and about 2.0 to 3.0% [32] for the last 12 months. SAD is almost twice as often present in females than in males [24,62,115] and is associated with a decline in school or work performances, (school) refusal, and disinterest in age-appropriate activities [82].…”

“…Among the anxiety or mood disorders, SAD has the lowest treatment rates [44,85,95], probably because the disorder is hardly detected by primary care physicians, affected individuals are afraid to disclose an illness condition, or because of financial strains and uncertainty over where to seek help [81]. Less than 20% of affected individuals seek professional help [32,84]. Most (indirect) costs are due to occupational disability like reduced productivity, absenteeism from work and suicide [47,62].…”

Shyness Versus Social Phobia in US Youth

“…[5][6][7][8][9][10]12,13 Those within the scientific community, however, contend that social phobia and shyness are not synonymous; rather, investigators have maintained that social phobia is a persistent, disabling, psychiatric condition. [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] To date, only a minority of studies have examined the characteristics and associated impairment of social phobia in general population samples of youth, [23][24][25] and none has investigated the degree to which shyness and social phobia differ with regard to these features. The few studies that have investigated the relationship between shyness and social phobia have relied on clinical 27 and/or college student 28,29 samples and therefore might overestimate or underestimate differences between these conditions.…”