THE ISSUE OF SUBTYPES IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF SOCIAL PHOBIA

A number of changes will occur in the criteria for diagnosis of anxiet y disorders with the publication of DSM-IV. For social phobia, a centr al issue has been the specification and definition of subtypes. DSM-II I-R specified a generalized subtype, but the DSM-IV subworkgroup on so cial phobia considered additional subtyping strategies, and struggled with issues of number and definition. This paper reviews die literatur e on subtyping in clinical samples of individuals with social phobia, and considers issues such as demographic differences, clinical feature s, and treatment response. The issue of overlap between generalized so cial phobia and avoidant personality disorder is considered. An analys is of the subtype issue from a situationist perspective is also presen ted. Options for subtyping that were considered for DSM-IV are present ed, and issues that require further research on subtypes of social pho bia are discussed.