The Effects of Personality Disorder Diagnosis on the Outcome of Social Anxiety Symptom Reduction

This pilot study tested the prediction that patients with a social phobia associated with personality disorder will be less responsive to short-term cognitive behavior therapy than patients diagnosed as simply socially phobic. To assess this prediction, seven patients diagnosed as socially phobic with a personality disorder and six patients diagnosed as only socially phobic were administered 15 weeks of cognitive behavioral group therapy for social phobia. The results confirmed the hypothesis. Patients diagnosed as social phobic only improved markedly during the 15 week period, whereas patients additionally diagnosed to have a personality disorder failed to improve in this short-term treatment regimen.