Treatment of social phobia

Social phobia (or social anxiety disorder) consists of a marked and persistent fear of social or performance situations. Affected individuals fear that they will be evaluated negatively or that they will act in a humiliating or embarrassing way. Exposure to social or performance situations invariably leads to panic or marked anxiety, and such situations therefore tend to be avoided or endured with extreme distress. Social phobia is the third most common mental disorder in adults worldwide, with a lifetime prevalence of at least 5% (depending on the threshold for distress and impairment). There is an equal gender ratio in treatment settings, but in catchment area surveys, there is a female preponderance of 3:2. Individuals are more likely to be unmarried and have a lower socio-economic status. Although common, social phobia is often not diagnosed or effectively treated. There have, however, been a number of developments in our understanding and treatment of social phobia over the past decade, and these are the focus of this article.