ABSTRACT
Social phobia is an anxiety disorder characterized by excessive fears of negative evaluation and embarrassment. Individuals with social phobia experience discomfort in the context of interpersonal interactions, which often leads to avoidance of social and interactional situations. The National Comorbidity Survey recently estimated that 13% of the population suffer from this condition at some point in their life (Magee, Eaton, Wittchen, McGonagle, & Kessler, 1996). Because social phobia is one of the most prevalent disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental DisordersFourth Edition (DSMIV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994), it is likely that clinicians frequently will be faced with socially anxious patients who are experiencing interactional fears and the adverse consequences of those fears. Unfortunately, few studies have investigated the long-term effects of social phobia on social functioning, and no known studies have examined characteristics of close, romantic relationships in social phobia. Identifying specific problematic aspects of the close relationships of individuals with social phobia is the first step toward designing interventions to ameliorate relationship distress in these individuals and their partners.
