Social Anxiety Disorder ― The Nice Guideline on Recognition, Assessment and Treatment

Socialanxiety disorder is very common and often coexists with other mental healthproblems. It can be severely detrimental to quality of life, with far-reachingconsequences for education, employment and relationships. Only a minority ofpeople with social anxiety disorder receive help, but this guidelinedemonstrates that effective treatments exist and it aims to increaseidentification and assessment so that people can access interventions to helpthem overcome this disabling condition.

The guidelinereviews the evidence for the management of social anxiety disorder across thecare pathway in adults, children and young people. It reviews evidence for identification andassessment, and compares the effects of pharmacological and psychologicalinterventions. Interventions for adults are compared using a networkmeta-analysis. The guideline also contains a chapter on improving access toservices and the experience of care for people with social anxiety disorder.

The guidelinecontains all the evidence on which the recommendations were based and furtherdata on a CD-ROM, including: Results of the network meta-analysis; characteristicsof included studies; GRADE profile tables that summarise the quality of theevidence and the results of the evidence synthesis; meta-analytical datapresented as forest plots; economic evidence and results; and detailedinformation about how to use and interpret forest plots.

The National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (NCCMH) wasestablished in 2001 by the UK-based National Institute for Health and ClinicalExcellence (NICE) to develop guidance on the appropriate treatment and care ofpeople with mental health problems and then write the clinical guidelines. TheNCCMH is a partnership between the Royal College of Psychiatrists and theBritish Psychological Society.