Aim

To evaluate avoidance and fear in comorbid social phobia (SF) in patients with schizophrenia (SZ).

Method:

cross-sectional study with patients already diagnosed with schizophrenia at the Schizophrenia Outpatient Clinic of the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA) assessed for social anxiety comorbidity by the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS).

Results:

the sample identified 59 patients with concurrent SZ-SF. Of these 17% had mild, 40.7% moderate and 42.4% severe SF. The study of SF dimensions defined by LSAS revealed significantly higher levels of avoidance (average 28.5 points), compared to fear (average 25 points).

Conclusions:

The study identified levels of social anxiety mostly at moderate and severe level (83.1%) in patients with comorbid SZ-SF after stabilization of psychotic symptoms. The component of avoidance of social situations is more frequent and intense than fear itself, and is related to additional problems in personal and professional life of patients after stabilization. If this evidence is confirmed with larger samples, it may call for increased surveillance and interventions addressing SF as part of the treatment in schizophrenia. Additionally, it will move treatment and training further from control of delusions and hallucinations, open the opportunity for creation and testing specific techniques for SA management and consequently increase chances of functionality improvement of patients with schizophrenia.

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