Family history of psychiatric disorders in social phobia

Relatives of panic patients, normals, and social phobics were compared on family histories of emotional disorders to find relatives with social phobia had significantly more relatives withsocial phobia than panic disorder relatives.

Abstract

Relatives of panic patients (N = 471), normals (N = 46), and social phobics (N = 76) were compared on family histories of emotional disorders. Social phobics had significantly more relatives with social phobia than panic disorder relatives (6.6% v 0.4% P < .001) and there was a trend for social phobic relatives to be greater than normals in this diagnoses (6.6% v 2.2%, P = 0.1). Relatives of social phobics also had significantly fewer generalized anxiety disorders, panic disorders and alcohol abusers than relatives of panic disorder probands. These results lend further evidence toward confirming social phobia as a distinct entity and raise the possibility that it has familial components.