Social skills and social phobia: An investigation of DSM-IV subtypes

    Authors

    D. C. Beidel; P. A. Rao; L. Scharfstein; N. Wong;C. A. Alfano

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Behav. Res. Ther.

    Keywords

    Social phobia; Social skills; Social anxiety disorder; Behavioral; assessment of social skill; AVOIDANT PERSONALITY-DISORDER; ANXIETY INVENTORY; GROUP-THERAPY; DEPRESSION; PSYCHOPATHOLOGY; VALIDITY; PSYCHOTHERAPY; COMORBIDITY; PERFORMANCE; PREVALENCE; Psychology, Clinical

    Abstract

    Social phobia is characterized as pervasive social timidity in social settings. Although much is known about this disorder, aspects of its clinical presentation remain unexplored, in particular characteristics that distinguish the generalized and non-generalized subtypes. For example, it remains unclear whether patients with the non-generalized subtype display social skills deficits in social interactions, and if so, are these deficits clinically, as well as statistically, significant? In this study, adults with either the non-generalized (NGSP; n = 60) or generalized (GSP; n = 119) subtype of social phobia and adults with no psychological disorder (n = 200) completed an extensive behavioral assessment of social skill and social anxiety. As expected, adults with NGSP and GSP reported equal distress and displayed similar rates of avoidance during an Impromptu Speech Task when compared to adults with no disorder. In contrast, the three groups were distinctly different when interacting with another person in various social situations. Adults with NGSP displayed social skill deficits when compared to individuals with no disorder, but they had fewer deficits than the GSP subtype. However, the identified skill deficits were clinically as well as statistically significant only for the GSP subtype. The results are discussed in terms of the contribution of skill deficits to the conceptualization and treatment of social phobia. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    Behaviour Research and Therapy

    Volume

    48

    Issue/Number

    10

    Publication Date

    1-1-2010

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    992

    Last Page

    1001

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000282406300007

    ISSN

    0005-7967

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