Evaluation and treatment of social phobia in children and adolescents in Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries

Social phobia or social anxiety disorder is defined as an intense and lasting fear of social situations in which the person is exposed to observation by others and experiences fear of doing something or behaving in a manner that is humiliating or embarrassing. It is distinguished from other disorders by the fear and avoidance of interpersonal situations and by its high interference in subjects’ daily lives. Social phobia is a serious public health problem, whose prevalence in the community is surpassed only by major depression and alcohol dependency. For this reason, its study, evaluation and treatment have been a priority for clinical psychologists ever since its classification as a diagnostic category. However, that preoccupation has not reflected by a development in psychological treatments that are independent of socio-economic-cultural contexts: whereas large epidemiological studies have been carried out among English native-speaking communities for children and adolescents, study of the disorder in Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries is still comparatively scarce. This paper aims to assess the current state of the research into the disorder in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American children and adolescents, and to consider the planning of early detection and intervention programs that are adapted to our cultural contexts.
Key words: social phobia, evaluation and treatment, early detection and intervention, Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American children and adolescents.