Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Alcohol And Anxiety: Subtle And Obvious Attributes Of Abuse In Adults With Social Anxiety Disorder And Panic Disorder, Lindsay S. Ham, Debra A. Hope

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Previous research has found a relation between social anxiety disorder and alcoholism, but recent work found no differences in drinking levels among socially anxious individuals, dysthymics, and normal controls. Using a more sophisticated measure of substance abuse may further explicate the relation between social anxiety and drinking. We examined aspects of substance abuse in treatment-seeking individuals with social anxiety disorder or panic disorder (psychiatric control group) as well as nondisordered individuals (normal control group). We used the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory–3 because it includes both face valid and subtle items to control for social desirability. Contrary to the hypotheses, …