Key issues that will be covered:

• Impediments to access for diagnosis and treatment.
• Identification and recognition of social anxiety disorder.
• Content and structure of an assessment.
• Psychological interventions (for example, individual and group cognitive behaviour therapy [CBT], facilitated and non-facilitated self help, computerised cognitive behaviour therapy, social skills training, exposure therapy, anxiety management, interpersonal psychotherapy and psychodynamic psychotherapy).
• Pharmacological interventions (for example, selective seratonin reuptake inhibitors [SSRIs], monoamine oxidase inhibitors [MAOIs], reversible MAOIs, tricyclics, other antidepressants, beta-blockers and benzodiazepines). Note that guideline recommendations will normally fall within licensed indications; exceptionally, and only if clearly supported by evidence, use outside a licensed indication may be recommended. The guideline will assume that prescribers will use a drug’s summary of product characteristics to inform decisions made with individual patients.
• Combined pharmacological and psychological interventions (including the use of cognitive enhancers).
• Family based/ parenting interventions (for example, the FRIENDS programme, which is a family-based group CBT intervention involving cognitive restructuring for parents and assistance in building social support).
• Modifying treatment to take account of comorbid conditions.
• Surgical interventions (for example, surgery for facial blushing and treatment of hyperhidrosis with botulinum toxin A).
• Pathways into and through care.
• Monitoring of clinical and other outcomes.

Issues that will not be covered:

• Treatment of comorbid conditions (however, see 4.3.1 h).
• Interventions aimed at the primary prevention of social anxiety disorders in children and young people in educational and social care settings.