Perfectionism and self-consciousness in social phobia and panic disorder with agoraphobia

Social phobics were compared to patients with panic disorder with agoraphobia and normal controls on perfectionism and self-consciousness. On concern over mistakes and doubts about action, social phobics scored higher than patients with panic disorder. Social phobics also demonstrated a higher level of public self-consciousness than patients with panic disorder and when this difference was controlled for the significant differences on perfectionism disappeared. Within each patient group, however, perfectionism was more robustly related to social anxiety than was public self-consciousness, which replicates the findings of Saboonchi and Lundh [Saboonchi, F. & Lundh, L. G. (1997). Perfectionism, self-consciousness and anxiety. Personality and Individual Differences, 22, 921–928.] from a non-clinical sample. The results are discussed in terms of public self-consciousness being a differentiating characteristic of the more severe kind of social anxiety which is typical of social phobia.