Evaluation of early maladaptive schemas and domains in social anxiety disorder specifiers and non-clinical samples

INTRODUCTION: Regarding symptoms, Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is a heterogeneous disorder, and DSM-5 defines it with a performance-only specifier. In this study, we aimed to examine early maladaptive schema, the differences in SAD specifiers with the non-clinical samples, and the prediction of early maladaptive schema domains on SAD specifiers' symptom severity. METHODS: Our sample included 59 patients with performance only-SAD (P-SAD), 61 with unspecified SAD (U-SAD), and 155 individuals in non-clinical samples. We used the Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form 3 and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale to assess the samples. RESULTS: Our results were remarkable differences in early maladaptive schemas between individuals of SAD's specifiers and non-clinical samples; we also found that although U-SAD's social anxiety severity related to all early maladaptive schema domains, P-SAD's social anxiety severity associated with Disconnection and Rejection and Impaired Autonomy & Performance schema domains. Our clinical findings suggest that the Disconnection and Rejection schema domain is positively, the Excessive Responsibility and Standards schema domain is negatively predicted for P-SAD's social anxiety severity, and the Impaired Autonomy & Performance schema domain is positively predicted for U-SAD's social anxiety severity. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Early maladaptive schema domains have essential impacts on social anxiety symptoms. Understanding the various early maladaptive schema differences among SAD specifiers and a non-clinical sample and predicting these specifiers' social anxiety symptoms with early maladaptive schema domains might help explain different social anxiety disorders' clinical symptomatology.