Social phobia: the need for treatment.

Social phobia is associated with a high level of dysfunction because of the direct effect the disorder has on the ability of the individual to interact with others in social or work situations. The level of impairment and disability is seen to be as severe as and, in some cases, more severe than is seen in other chronic disorders such as depression. The disability is increased by a cascade of comorbidity which appears, in almost all cases, to be secondary to the social phobia. This paper discusses different treatment modalities and details the efficacy of moclobemide in both short- and long-term treatment. A subanalysis of those with severe to most severe social phobia at the start of treatment shows that efficacy is more clearly seen in the severe group compared with those with moderate severity. The clinical relevance of those findings is discussed here.