Citation

Stevens S, Cooper R, Bantin T, Hermann C, Gerlach AL. Behav. Res. Ther. 2017; 94: 9-18.

Affiliation

University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.brat.2017.04.008

PMID

28441522

Abstract

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) and alcohol use disorders (AUD) co-occur frequently and there is preliminary evidence that alcohol might reduce social anxiety. It is, however, unclear which mechanisms contribute to the anxiety reducing effect, particularly regarding key aspects of social anxiety such as deficits in social performance. We compared self-rated and physiological measures of anxiety as well as self- and observer-rated social performance in a sample of 62 individuals with SAD and 60 nonanxious control participants during a speech task after receiving either alcohol, an alcohol-free placebo drink or orange juice. SAD patients reported more anxiety during the speech task than did control participants. Furthermore, SAD patients underestimated their performance in comparison to observer ratings. Alcohol reduced self-report anxiety only in SAD patients, while observers rated all participants as less competent when intoxicated. Although individuals with SAD experience a reduction in anxiety when drinking alcohol, simultaneous decreases in social performance might contribute to negative reactions from others and consequently increase the risk of further alcohol use to cope with these negative reactions.

Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Alcohol consumption; Comorbidity; Social anxiety disorder; Social performance