Abstract
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is characterized by fear of social situations involving performance, social interactions or being observed. In DSM-5, the “generalized” specifier in DSM-IV has been deleted and replaced with a “performance only” specifier. Taijin-kyofu (TK) in Japan is a sufficient criterion for SAD, because the definition of offence of others is added to fear of humiliating or embarrassing oneself. However, it is confusing that the Japanese terms of “jikoshu-kyofu” and “shubo-kyofu” are categorized as other specified obsessive–compulsive disorder and related disorders. The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) is a reliable, valid, and widely used scale that is the standard measure of SAD severity. The LSAS-Japanese version (LSAS-J) has been used in the clinical study of SAD in Japan. However, investigation of TK has been hampered by the lack of a measure for the assessment of TK symptoms in the LSAS. We thus developed the Social Anxiety/Taijin-kyoufu Scale (SATS) to rate the severity of the symptoms of SAD and TK.
