An empirical approach to subtype identification in individuals with social phobia
An empirical approach to subtype identification in individuals with social phobia
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DOI：
10.1017/s0033291799002895
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发表时间：
2000-11-01
影响因子：
6.9
通讯作者：
Liebowitz, MR
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Eng, W;Heimberg, RG;Liebowitz, MR
背景本研究使用聚类分析程序，以确定经验性的社交恐惧症患者在一个大的临床样本的亚组。Liebowitz社交焦虑量表（LSAS）被用于382例社交恐惧症患者的治疗研究。基于LSAS的因子分析研究，将LSAS的恐惧等级分为4个分量表（社交、演讲、他人观察、公共饮食）。为了得到一个稳定可靠的解，将这些因子分为两个阶段进行聚类分析，包括凝聚-层次聚类和迭代非层次聚类。三个患者亚组的基础上，他们的模式，害怕的社会情况的LSAS。这些群体被标记为：（1）普遍的社交焦虑;（2）中度社交焦虑;（3）显性公开演讲焦虑。集群不同的年龄和社交恐惧症发病年龄，以及社交焦虑，一般性焦虑和抑郁症状的措施显着。符合社交恐惧症和回避型人格障碍广义亚型标准的患者比例也存在差异。结果提供了实证支持的存在三个亚组在临床样本的个人与社交恐惧症，并有助于越来越多的证据的异质性的社交恐惧症。需要进一步研究这些亚组的概念，临床和病因学意义。
Background. The present study used cluster analysis procedures to identify empirically subgroups of patients with social phobia in a large clinical sample.Method. The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) was administered to 382 patients from several studies of the treatment of social phobia. LSAS fear ratings were summed into four subscale scores (social interaction, public speaking, observation by others, eating and drinking in public) based on a previous factor analytical study of the LSAS, In order to produce a stable and robust solution, these factor scores were submitted to a two-stage clustering procedure consisting of an agglomerative-hierarchical clustering method followed by an iterative non-hierarchical clustering method.Results. Three patient subgroups were identified based on their pattern of feared social situations on the LSAS. These groups were labelled: (1) pervasive social anxiety; (2) moderate social interaction anxiety; and (3) dominant public speaking anxiety. Clusters differed significantly on age and age of social phobia onset, as well as on measures of social anxiety, general anxiety and depressive symptomatology. Clusters also differed in the percentage of assigned patients who met criteria for the generalized subtype of social phobia and avoidant personality disorder.Conclusions. The results provide empirical support for the existence of three subgroups in a clinical sample of individuals with social phobia and contribute to the growing evidence for the heterogeneity of social phobia. Further study of the conceptual, clinical and aetiological significance of these subgroups is needed.