Influences of Interpersonal Rejection Sensitivity and Depressive Symptoms on Social Anxiety Symptoms in Severe Social Anxiety Disorder Patients

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influences of interpersonal rejection sensitivity on depressive symptoms and social anxiety symptoms in social anxiety disorder (SAD) patients. Eighty-one SAD patients completed the questionnaire assessing their rejection sensitivity, depressive symptoms, and social anxiety symptoms. The results indicated that rejection sensitivity led an increase in SAD symptoms through depressive symptoms. In rejection sensitivity, “discrepancy between social self-image and true self-image” and “obsequence to others” in particular are strongly related with depressive symptoms. These results suggest that rejection sensitivity as a possible cause of depressive symptoms in the course of SAD, and were discussed in terms of possibility of approach that focus on rejection sensitivity.