THE ZURICH STUDY .20. SOCIAL PHOBIA AND AGORAPHOBIA

The problems in association with agoraphobia and social phobia were ex amined in an 11-year prospective longitudinal study of a Swiss cohort of young adults. The weighted prevalence rates according to DSM-III we re 2.9% for agoraphobia and 3.8% for social phobia. Although the probl em of agoraphobia was greater in fem ales, an equal sex ratio was obse rved for social phobia. There was a significant degree of comorbidity between the two subtypes of phobia, with females exhibiting a signific antly greater frequency of co-occurrence of both disorders than males. The course of the two disorders was quite similar. In general, subjec ts with both disorders reported a more severe course. Assessment of co morbidity of phobias and other disorders revealed that agoraphobia was most significantly associated with extended neurasthenia, sexual prob lems, and the consumption of cannabis. On the other hand, social phobi a was associated with other disorders than agoraphobia, with the stron gest associations emerging for simple phobia, extended insomnia, and a lcohol abuse. These findings support the validity of the distinction b etween different subtypes of phobia. The longitudinal analysis reveale d that also phobia in general was not stable at the diagnostic level p hobic symptoms were quite persistent across time.