Avoidant Personality Disorder and the Generalized Subtype of Social Phobia

Authors

Craig S. Holt, State University of New York at Albany
Richard G. Heimberg, State University of New York at AlbanyFollow
Debra A. Hope, State University of New York at AlbanyFollow

ORCID IDs

Debra A. Hope

Date of this Version

5-1992

Citation

Journal of Abnormal Psychology 101:2 (May 1992), pp. 318–325.

doi: 10.1037/0021-843X.101.2.318

Comments

Copyright © 1992 American Psychological Association. Used by permission.

Abstract

Social phobia and avoidant personality disorder (APD) may be given as comorbid diagnoses. However, it is not known if the labels provide independent, useful diagnostic information. We classified social phobics by social phobia subtype and presence of APD. Generalized social phobics with and without APD (ns = 10 and 10) and nongeneralized social phobics without APD (n = 10) were distinguished on measures of phobic severity. The generalized groups also showed earlier age at onset and higher scores on measures of depression, fear of negative evaluation, and social anxiety and avoidance than did the nongeneralized group. APD criteria of general timidity and risk aversion were more frequently endorsed by social phobics with APD. The data suggest that both the generalized subtype of social phobia and the presence of APD do provide useful diagnostic information but the additional diagnosis of APD may simply identify a severe subgroup of social phobics.