A review of the epidemiology and approaches to the treatment of social anxiety disorder

This review presents current literature on the epidemiology and treatment o f social anxiety disorder (social phobia). This illness has been demonstrat ed to be the most common anxiety disorder with a 1-year prevalence of 7 to 8% and a lifetime prevalence of 13 to 14% in patients aged between 15 and 5 4 years. Social anxiety disorder can be classified into 2 subtypes, discret e and generalised. Morbidity is high with this disorder, and 70 to 80% of p atients have co-morbid mental disorders. Although effective treatments are available, social anxiety disorder is under-recognised and under-treated. T reatments that have been systemically studied and have shown efficacy in pa tients with social anxiety disorder include pharmacotherapy (selective sero tonin reuptake inhibitors, monoamine oxidase inhibitors, reversible inhibit ors of monoamine-A and benzodiazepines) and short term psychotherapies (cog nitive behaviour therapy, social skills training and exposure in vivo thera py). beta-blockers are useful in treating performance-related anxiety. Few published data are available on the treatment of social anxiety disorder wi th a combination of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy. We conclude this rev iew by discussing proposed algorithms for treating both subtypes of social anxiety disorder.