Social anxiety disorder may increase risk of alcoholism

New research published in Depression and Anxiety indicates that, unlike other anxiety disorders, social anxiety disorder may have a direct effect on alcoholism.

For the study, researchers assessed alcoholism, social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, and specific phobias through interviews with 2,801 adult Norwegian twins.

Social anxiety disorder had the strongest association with alcoholism, and it predicted alcoholism over and above the effect of other anxiety disorders. In addition, social anxiety disorder was linked with a higher risk of later developing alcoholism, whereas other anxiety disorders were not.

The findings suggest that interventions aimed at prevention or treatment of social anxiety disorder may have an additional beneficial effect of preventing alcoholism.

Source: Read Full Article

Related posts:
  1. Cigarette smoking associated with increased risk of peripheral artery disease in African-Americans
  2. Children exposed to air pollution at school may be at greater risk of overweight and obesity
  3. Cellular alterations increase vulnerability of obese and diabetic individuals to infection
  4. Brain’s cerebellum found to influence addictive and social behavior
  5. DDT exposure tied to breast cancer risk for all women through age 54