[Frequency and comorbidity of social anxiety and social phobia in adolescents. Results of a Bremen adolescent study].

Using data from the Bremen Adolescent Study, this report presents findings on the frequency, comorbidity and psychosocial impairment of social phobia and social fears among 1035 German adolescents of 12-17 years of age. The adolescents were randomly selected from 36 schools in the city and provincial government area of Bremen, Germany. Social phobia and other psychiatric disorders were coded based on DSM-IV criteria using the computerized personal interview of the Munich version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Seventeen (1.6%) of the adolescents had met the DSM-IV criteria for social phobia at some time in their life. More girls than boys were diagnosed as suffering from social phobia. The incidence of the disorder increased with age. The lifetime frequency of social fears is much higher. The most common types of feared social situations were fear of doing something in front of other people, followed by public speaking. Social phobia very often co-occurred with depressive disorders, somatoform disorders and disorders caused by excessive or inappropriate consumption of substances. Over 94% of those with social phobia and 54.4% with any social fears were severely impaired in their daily life during the worst episode. Despite the high level of psychosocial impairment, only a small portion of the cases received professional help.