Journal of Psychological Abnormalities

A Brief Note on Social Anxiety Disorder and Complications

Clare Brown^{* *}Correspondence: Clare Brown, Editorial Office, Journal of Psychological Abnormalities, Brussels, Belgium, Email:

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Introduction

According to the DSM-IV diagnosis, social anxiety disorder is characterized by a pronounced and ongoing fear of one or more social or performance circumstances in which the person is exposed to unknown people or potential public scrutiny. According to several epidemiologic research, SAD has a 12-months prevalence of between 7% and 10%, making it one of the most prevalent anxiety disorders. SAD hinders scholastic advancement and interpersonal skills, which in turn restricts professional growth, mostly because of its early beginning (childhood and adolescence in the majority of instances). Clinical and community research has demonstrated that SAD can be extremely crippling, resulting in a significant quantity of suffering and negatively affecting psychosocial functioning, as evidenced by worse performance in school and work, there is a higher chance of dropping out. Early start to school, less social engagement, and discontent with money and leisure pursuits. People with social anxiety have significant impairment in everyday tasks, employment roles, and social interactions. relationships. Individuals with social anxiety disorder as a comorbid illness have a more severe level of impairment since social anxiety disorder is itself a debilitating disorder. The existing understanding of comorbidities and reduced psychosocial functioning in SAD has been largely based on the diagnostic parameters set by the diagnostic and categorization systems now in use. Though it may be more accurate, some writers have suggested a dimensional approach to the description of SAD as a continuum of symptom intensity, degree of avoidance, misery, and impairment.

From this perspective, even though there are few scientific studies involving these populations, a better understanding of the extent of functional disabilities and the occurrence of comorbidities according to SAD severity and subtypes, and, even more importantly, in those with Subthreshold SAD, is crucial for a better understanding of the condition. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale was used to interview the patients with schizophrenia and social anxiety disorder. Patients with schizophrenia were also evaluated using the Social Adjustment Scale, the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms, and the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms. During the clinical interview with the individuals, suicidal behavior was investigated by asking if they had ever tried suicide and, if yes, how frequently. A self-destructive act committed to terminate one's life was described as a suicide attempt. In addition to the patient's report, ratings were based on all information available, including case notes, interviews with family members, and case managers. The Medical Outcomes Study's 36-item Short-Form Health Survey, which has eight multi-item measures, was used to gauge the quality of life. The vitality, mental health, role-emotional, and social functioning measures contribute to the mental health summary score, whereas the physical functioning, role-physical, bodily pain, and general health scales contribute to the composite physical health summary measure. From 0 (worst possible health state as determined by the questionnaire) to 100 (highest possible health status), the raw scores on the eight Short Form Health Survey scales range. The summary measures are standardized to have a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10, and they are scored using norm-based procedures for the general Italian population.

Conclusion

Given that it is frequently unclear whether the presence of multiple psychiatric diagnoses indicates the presence of distinct clinical entities or multiple manifestations of a single entity, it is important to note that there is a significant debate surrounding the use of the term comorbidity to indicate the coexistence of two or more psychiatric diagnoses. A relative lack of hierarchical principles governing illnesses is partly due to the explosion of diagnostic categories in recent classifications. When the DSM-III-R was published, it had the impact of making diagnoses more operational but leading to a compartmentalization of the diseases since it defined mental disorders in a categorical rather than dimensional manner. The common cooccurrence of mental problems is real. It may potentially be seen as proof that these illnesses do not reflect separate entities. In the current investigation, the term "comorbidity" was used to denote that the same person satisfied the criteria for SAD and the concurrent presence of other recognized mental diseases. Due to the absence of mental disorders in the Subthreshold SAD and Control groups' constituents, this concept is inappropriate for those groups. In this instance, comorbidity simply refers to the co-existence of different psychiatric diseases. The results of the anxiety measures might be used in this study to demonstrate the hypothesis of a dimensional spectrum of SAD: In comparison to the Control group, Subthreshold SAD patients consistently scored considerably higher on practically all scales and subscales, indicating a higher level of symptomatology.