Social anxiety disorder in adults who stutter

Abstract

Background: The nature and prevalence of social anxiety disorder (social phobia (SP)) in people who stutter is uncertain, and DSM-IV differential diagnosis guidelines make it difficult to classify an adult who stutters (AWS) with SP as it is assumed any social anxiety symptoms will be a consequence of their stuttering. The aim of this study was to determine the spot prevalence of SP in AWS and to investigate differences in social anxiety between AWS and controls who do not stutter. Methods: The study involved a comprehensive assessment of 200 AWS and 200 adults who do not stutter similar in age and sex ratio. Measures included stuttering severity, health status, self-report measures of social anxiety as well as a structured diagnostic interview for SP for randomly selected sub-group of 50 from each group. Results: The AWS were found to have significantly raised trait and social anxiety, as well as significantly increased risk of SP in comparison to the controls. Findings indicated a SP spot prevalence of at least 40% in AWS, and for them to be at high risk of having Generalized SP. Conclusions: It is concluded that the DSM-IV diagnostic guidelines for diagnosing SP in AWS could result in professional confusion and have possible negative mental health ramifications. Implications for the psychological and medical treatment of AWS are discussed. Depression and Anxiety 27:687-692, 2010.

Brazilian version of the Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering - Adults protocol (OASES-A)

“…(10,11,25,26) One of the factors related to the increase in anxiety and embarrassment referred to by stutterers is bullying (27,28) . It means the use of power or force to persecute, humiliate, be dismissive of others, making victims of them.…”

A speech and psychological profile of treatment-seeking adolescents who stutter

“…Understanding the relationship between anxiety and stuttering during adolescence is of critical importance given the heightened rates of social anxiety disorder that have been found among adults who stutter compared to non-stuttering controls (Blumgart, Tran, & Craig, 2010;Iverach et al, 2009). However, research investigating the presence of anxiety in adolescents who stutter has yielded inconclusive results (Smith et al, 2014).…”

Automatic recognition of children's read speech for stuttering application

“…Late intervention during childhood leads the disorder be considered as a chronic condition during adulthood because it is associated with several aspects of life such as disruptions in life quality [3], communication difficulties [4], job performance measurement [5]. In addition, The risk of mental difficulties is increased for people who stutter such as social anxiety [6]. The risks are increased during adulthood rather than childhood because most young children are not fully aware of their disfluency yet.…”