How is recovery from social anxiety disorder defined?

Recovery in social anxiety disorder (social phobia) is a poorly defined concept. Since the onset of social anxiety disorder typically occurs during adolescence, a time when social skills and academic attainment are of particular importance, recovery is difficult to assess. Assessment of global improvement over 3 domains--symptoms, functionality, and well-being or overall severity of illness--is needed. This article describes currently available rating scales for social anxiety and uses data from clinical studies to assess whether improvement can be defined quantitatively in terms of scores on these rating scales. The main criteria have changed little over the past few years, with most investigators looking for a prespecified response on a single generic or specific rating scale for clinical severity. A better approach may be to employ a multiaxial system that uses a number of rating scales to measure both global and specific symptoms, disability, and quality of life.