ABSTRACT
Social anxiety disorder is a severe psychiatric syndrome that results in significant suffering and impairment in psychosocial function (1, 2) (this volume, chapter by Baldwin and Buis). Many theoretical models exist to describe the causes of this disorder. Although psychoanalysts have developed several theoretical models of the development of anxiety, they have rarely focused on specific anxiety disorders as described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition, text revision (DSM-IV-TR) (3). More systematic assessment of psychological factors and the development of therapeutic approaches to specific psychiatric syndromes has occurred only in recent years and remains outside mainstream psychoanalysis.
