Rate of social anxiety disorder, its comorbidity with depression and paroxetine effects in outpatients in Japan

The prevalence of persons with social anxiety disorder (SAD) in Japan remains unknown. This study examined 293 patients with age between 20 and 60 at first visit on the outpatient clinic of psychiatry by the section of social phobia of M.I.N.I. and DSM-IV. After that, 10 patients with both SAD out of 16 patients (trial recruited) completed 12 weeks of treatment with paroxetine. Among 63 patients with 4 points and 40 patients with 3 points on the M.I.N.I., 21 patients (33%) and 16 patients (40%) were diagnosed as SAD on DSM-IV criteria, respectively. Together, 37 patients (12.6%) were diagnosed as SAD out of the 293 outpatients. Among 37 patients with SAD, 23 patients (62%) had comorbid depression. As for 10 patients after treatment with paroxetine, 8 patients improved from the point of recovery of depression (HAM-D scores below 10), whereas only 4 patients improved from the point of recovery of social phobia (L-SAS scores below 30). Three points as well as 4 points on the M.I.N.I. is meaningful for the diagnosis of SAD. For a while, paroxetine exerted less beneficial effects on SAD rather than on depression.