The pharmacologic and expectancy effects of alcohol on social anxiety in individuals with social phobia. Drug Alcohol Depend 2001 Oct 01;64(2):219-31
Date
09/07/2001Pubmed ID
11543992DOI
10.1016/s0376-8716(01)00125-9Scopus ID
2-s2.0-0035480027 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 72 CitationsAbstract
Individuals with social phobia are at an increased risk for alcohol problems. Individuals with social phobia could increase their risk for pathological alcohol use if they drink as a means of coping with anxiety-provoking social situations. Providing a circumscribed test of this view, we evaluate the effect of alcohol on the intensity of social phobia anxiety responses. Sixty-one individuals with social phobia gave two speech challenges in front of a group ('social anxiety challenge'), one occurring before and one after they consumed either: (a) an alcoholic drink they were told contained alcohol ('alcohol group'), (b) a non-alcoholic drink they were told contained alcohol ('placebo group'), or, (c) a non-alcoholic drink they were told contained no alcohol ('control group'). Both the alcohol group and the placebo group showed greater reduction in performance anxiety from the first to the second speech challenge than did the control group. Further, there was a strong trend in the data for the alcohol group to show greater reduction in performance anxiety from the first to the second speech challenge than did the placebo group. We concluded from these findings that the pharmacologic effects of alcohol and the belief that one consumed alcohol decrease social performance anxiety in an additive fashion. These results provide direct support for the negatively reinforcing properties of alcohol and are consistent with the view that symptom reduction may motivate alcohol use among socially phobic individuals.
Author List
Abrams K, Kushner M, Medina KL, Voight AAuthor
Krista Lisdahl PhD Assistant Professor in the Psychology department at University of Wisconsin - MilwaukeeMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Adaptation, PsychologicalAdult
Alcoholic Intoxication
Arousal
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Phobic Disorders
Risk Assessment
Social Behavior