Social skill imbalances in mood disorders and schizophrenia

Social skills traditionally have been conceptualized as a global construct with a linear relationship to clinical symptoms (i.e., more severe symptoms lead to greater social skill deficits). Using a multidimensional model of social skills, we define social skill imbalance as an extreme score (too high or too low) on any one or more dimensions in relation to the other social skill dimensions. We examined whether social skill imbalances, not simply deficits, may be important correlates of clinical symptoms. This study explored the relation between self-reported possession of social/communication skills and symptom severity in an outpatient sample (N = 72) at a community mental health center. Participants with social skill imbalances scored higher in self-reported symptom severity. Results suggest that social skill imbalances, not merely deficits, may be important indicators of clinical distress. Behavioral interventions that bring extreme skill dimensions into balance with other social skills may be an important addition to social skills training that focuses on improving overall social skill deficits.