The impact of social trauma

Abstract

Trauma has almost exclusively been researched in the context of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The key characteristic of a traumatic event as defined by current nosological systems such as the Diagnostic and Mental Manual of Mental Disorders seems to be an imminent threat toward life. There is, however, evidence to suggest that other types of traumatic experiences may lead to PTSD. One such example is social trauma, involving severe humiliation, embarrassment and/or rejection in social situations. However, there is little research on social trauma and its potency in contributing to PTSD and social anxiety disorder (SAD). In this study, we explored whether there were differences in the frequency, type, severity and appraisals of social trauma endured by outpatients with a primary diagnosis of SAD (n = 60; M age = 28,3, SD = 10.4; 63.3% were female) compared to individuals with a different anxiety disorder (in this case, obsessive compulsive disorder; n = 13; M age = 29.3, SD = 7.7; 76.9% were female) and individuals with no mental disorders (the comparison group; n = 57; M age = 31.7, SD = 10.4, 52.6% were female). The results showed that most participants in this study, with or without social anxiety disorder, had experienced a socially traumatic event. There were no clear differences in the types of experiences between the groups, although, participants in the SAD group rated their trauma on average as more severe, especially individuals who went on to developing PTSD in response to the experience. Of those who reported social trauma in the SAD group, 31,2% met criteria for PTSD or suffered from clinically significant PTSD symptoms. The results also showed that individuals with SAD appraise social trauma in a more negative fashion than individuals with no psychiatric diagnoses. Furthermore, it showed that individuals with SAD adopted beliefs previously thought to be specific to the development of PTSD in relation to their trauma, in addition to endorsing certain beliefs that may be specific to the development and maintenance of SAD. This line of research could have important implications for theoretical models of both PTSD and SAD, and for the treatment of individuals with SAD suffering from PTSD after social trauma.Keywords: Social trauma, social anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, appraisal, obsessive-compulsive disorder