STRESSFUL LIFE EVENTS AND PERSONALITY STYLES - RELATION TO IMPAIRMENTAND TREATMENT OUTCOME IN PATIENTS WITH SOCIAL PHOBIA

Forty-five patients with social phobia and 15 individuals with no ment al disorder were compared on number and type of life events experience d. Social phobia patients were further examined to evaluate the effect of negative life events and of the interaction between personality st yle and life events on severity of impairment and reactions to cogniti ve-behavioral group therapy. Patients with social phobia reported more negative life events than participants with no mental disorder. Among patients with social phobia, more frequent negative life events were associated with higher scores on measures of depression and general an xiety. Patients high on autonomy who reported more negative autonomous (i.e., achievement-oriented) life events also scored higher on measur es of social anxiety and general anxiety. There were no significant in teractions between sociotropy and the frequency of reported socially o riented negative life events. However, patients high on sociotropy sco red higher on measures of social anxiety, depression, and general anxi ety. Patients who had experienced more negative life events improved m ore after treatment on measures of social anxiety than did those who h ad experienced fewer negative life events. Implications of these findi ngs and recommendations for future research ate discussed. (C) 1998 El sevier Science Ltd.