Social phobia and social skills: a literature review

This study aimed to identify in the indexers Medline, PsycINFO, Lilacs and Scielo, in the period between 2000 and 2005, empirical studies that investigated social phobia in relation to social skills, followed by a critical analysis of the methodologies used by the studies listed. Sixteen papers were identified and grouped in two categories: Therapeutic Modalities - Application and Comparison of Clinical Interventions (N=6) and Characterization of the Social Skills Repertoire (N = 10). The studies that compared therapeutic approaches evidenced the higher efficiency of the Social Skills Training (SST), for the development of more competent social repertoire, compared to cognitive-behavioral therapy. The studies of profile characterization (10) reported that the patients with social phobia presented a social skills deficit, suggesting the potential benefit of participation in social skills training programs. The critical analysis of the researches design pointed to the need of new studies with clinical and non-clinical samples, with random allocation of participants, precise diagnosis, and proposition of contextualized interaction tasks, in order to support the generalization of findings related to the association between the social skills and social phobia, and to demonstrate the functionality and process by which anxiety interferes with social performance. Keywords: social phobia; social anxiety; social skills.