The Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is a highly incapacitating condition that can cause considerable subjective suffering, with a negative impact on psychosocial functioning. However, few data are available in the literature about the influence of SAD severity and of SAD subtypes or the presence of comorbidities on psychosocial functioning, and the possible extent of this impairment in individuals with subclinical signs and symptoms.

The study consisted of the evaluation of psychosocial functioning using the Disability Profile (DP) in 355 volunteers, all of them college students who had been diagnosed in a previous study as SAD (N=141), Controls (N=92) or Subclinical (N=122), the last ones being defined as having unreasonable fear of a social situation but not fulfilling the criteria of avoidance or functional/occupational impairment due to this fear.

The groups were balanced regarding age, sex and socioeconomic level.

The SAD group had higher scores than the other two groups in all domains of DP, both on a lifetime basis and during the last two weeks. Subjects with subclinical SAD presented intermediate values.

The impairment of psychosocial functioning was also significantly related to the severity of the disorder. Regarding subtype, generalized SAD causes more harm, and the presence of comorbidities is associated with greater impairment of psychosocial functioning in each group.

The impairment of psychosocial functioning progressively increases along the spectrum of social anxiety. Further studies are needed to evaluate the consequences of this association.