The development, reliability, and discriminative ability of a new instrument to assess social phobia are presented. The Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI) is an empirically derived instrument incorporating responses from the cognitive, somatic, and behavioral dimensions of social fear. The SPAI has high lest-retest reliability and good internal consistency. The instrument appears to be sensitive to the entire continuum of socially anxious concerns and is capable of differentiating social phobics from normal controls as well as from other anxiety patients. The utility of this instrument for improved assessment of social phobia and anxiety and its use as an aid for treatment planning are discussed.

The development, reliability, and validity of a new instrument, the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for Children (SPAI-C), is described. The results indicate that the SPAI-C has high test-retest reliability and internal consistency. In addition, an assessment of concurrent and external validity indicates statistically significant correlations with commonly used self-report measures of general anxiety and fears and parental reports of children's anxiety and social competence. The results of a factor analysis indicate that the scale consists of three factors: Assertiveness/ General Conversation, Traditional Social Encounters, and Public Performance. Finally, scores on the SPAI-C successfully differentiate socially anxious and non-socially-anxious children. The instrument appears to be a reliable and valid measure for childhood social anxiety and fear and may prove useful for improving clinical assessment and documenting treatment outcome.

This paper reviews the literature examining social skills training (SST) programs for youth with AS/HFA, with an emphasis on critically evaluating efficacy and highlighting areas of future research. The review highlights the disparity between SST programs described in the extant literature, including lack of a universal definition of social skills, various levels of intensity and duration of treatment, divergent theoretical backgrounds, and variety in services provided in clinic or classroom settings. Overall, it is clear that, despite their widespread clinical use, empirical support for SST programs for children with AS/HFA is minimal at this time. Based on this critical review, a "roadmap" for future research, consistent with recommendations put forth by a leading group of autism researchers, is presented.

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Background: This review evaluates the DSM-IV criteria of social anxiety disorder (SAD), with a focus on the generalized specifier and alternative specifiers, the considerable overlap between the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for SAD and avoidant personality disorder, and developmental issues. Method: A literature review was conducted, using the validators provided by the DSM-V Spectrum Study Group. This review presents a number of options and preliminary recommendations to be considered for DSM-V. Results/Conclusions: Little supporting evidence was found for the current specifier, generalized SAD. Rather, the symptoms of individuals with SAD appear to fall along a continuum of severity based on the number of fears. Available evidence suggested the utility of a specifier indicating a ''predominantly performance'' variety of SAD. A specifier based on ''fear of showing anxiety symptoms'' (e.g., blushing) was considered. However, a tendency to show anxiety symptoms is a core fear in SAD, similar to acting or appearing in a certain way. More research is needed before considering subtyping SAD based on core fears. SAD was found to be a valid diagnosis in children and adolescents. Selective mutism could be considered in part as a young child's avoidance response to social fears. Pervasive test anxiety may belong not only to SAD, but also to generalized anxiety disorder. The data are equivocal regarding whether to consider avoidant personality disorder simply a severe form of SAD. Secondary data analyses, field trials, and validity tests are needed to investigate the recommendations and options. Depression and Anxiety 27:168-189, 2010. Key words: DSM-V; social anxiety disorder; social phobia; subtypes; classification; interpersonal; performance; test anxiety; selective mutism; avoidant personality disorder INTRODUCTIONThis review evaluates several issues pertaining to the diagnostic criteria for social phobia or social anxiety disorder (SAD) (Table 1), in light of empirical evidence gathered since DSM-IV. The review was guided by questions posed in the DSM-IV Sourcebook (Vol. 2), chapters titled ''Social phobia'' [1] and ''Social phobia subtypes,''[2] a review conducted as part of the DSM-V Stress Induced and Fear Circuitry Disorders Workgroup Conference, titled ''Social Phobia: Towards DSM V, '' [3] by questions posed by the DSM-V Anxiety, OC Spectrum, Posttraumatic, and Dissociative Disorder Work Group and by issues raised by consulted experts and advisors. The main issues to be addressed are the generalized specifier and its alternatives, the overlap with avoidant personality disorder, and developmental issues including the relationship that SAD shows in childhood with selective mutism (SM) and test anxiety. STATEMENT OF THE ISSUESThis review addresses the following questions, using the validators provided by the DSM-V Task Force: (1) What is the evidence/utility of the DSM-IV generalized specifier? If there is insufficient evidence/utility for a generalized specifier, what is the utility/evidence for alternative sub...