Comorbidity of Schizophrenia and Social Phobia

Abstract

Introduction

The most common comorbid disorder in schizophrenic patients is social phobia. It is usually unrecognized problem that may be associated with a highdistortion in managing claims of life. The aim of our study was to determinethe extent to which comorbid social phobia affects the severity and course ofschizophrenia.

Method

Thepublications were indentified in the database Medline and Web of Science usingthe key words 'schizophrenia comorbidity” in combination with the terms “social phobia” or “social anxiety disorder”. Otherrelevant sources of information were obtained from the cited works by importantarticles.

Results

Thecurrent state of research shows that comorbidity with social phobia is morecommon in schizophrenia than in the general population. The incidence ofcomorbid social phobia in psychotic disease states in range from 11 % to 36 %. Social phobia in psychotic patients remains largely unrecognized. If it isundetected and untreated, this comorbidity is associated with more severepsychotic symptoms, worse quality of life and lower self-esteem. It is anotherobstacle for patients suffering from schizophrenia that deterioratesfunctioning in everyday life. It also increases the tendency to socialisolation and overall worsens social adaptation. Patients with comorbid socialphobia and schizophrenia have a higher amount of lifetime suicide attempts, ofwhich they select the ways of suicide with higher lethality and often abusealcohol or addictive substance.

Conclusion

Patients suffering from both schizophrenia and social phobia have a lowerquality of life, impaired functioning in life, a higher incidence of suicideattempts and increased risk of relapse of psychosis compared with those who donot suffer from comorbid social phobia. It is therefore necessary thatphysicians treating the patients with schizophrenia had in mind the possibilityof presence of comorbid social phobia and in case of its occurrence they alsotreat it.