Primary and secondary social phobia: psychopathologic and familial differentiations

We compared "primary" social phobic patients (n = 25) with patients whose social phobia developing in the setting of panic disorder ("secondary" social phobics, n = 26) and panic-agoraphobic patients (n = 82). Familial, demographic, and symptomatologic data suggest a categorical distinction between the two types of social phobia. Secondary social phobics were essentially similar in all parameters to panic disorder with agoraphobia. These data support DSM-III conventions.