ABSTRACT
In 1985, Liebowitz and colleagues (1) called social phobia (SP) the “neglected anxiety disorder” (p. 729). While research into this most prevalent anxiety disorder (2) certainly accelerated in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the development of cognitive models to explain the maintenance of social phobia served to further spur research into the nature of this disorder as well as how to treat it. In this chapter, cognitive models of social phobia are described and research evidence supporting them is reviewed. While cognitive behavioral treatments are reviewed elsewhere (this volume, chapter by Heimberg), the ways in which the cognitive models have informed current approaches to treatment is also briefly discussed.
