Social phobia in cocaine-dependent individuals.

The authors explored the relationship between social phobia and cocaine dependence in 158 individuals entering a pharmacologic treatment trial for cocaine dependence. Twenty-two patients met DSM-III-R criteria for social phobia. The social phobia group was compared with 22 age- and sex-matched cocaine-dependent control subjects. Those with social phobia and cocaine dependence were more likely to have additional psychiatric diagnoses and greater symptom severity, more likely to be polysubstance users, and more likely to have developed alcohol dependence at an early age. The authors discuss treatment implications of these data.