title: The clinical impact of mood disorder comorbidity on social anxiety disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  High comorbidity rates of mood disorders have been reported in patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD). Our study aims to identify the frequency of comorbid Axis I disorders in patients with SAD and to investigate the impact of psychiatric comorbidity on SAD.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 247 patients with SAD. Thirty eight patients with bipolar depression (SAD-BD), 150 patients with major depressive disorder (SAD-MDD) and 25 patients who do not have any mood disorder comorbidity (SAD-NOMD) were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Around 90% of SAD patients had at least one comorbid disorder. Comorbidity rates of lifetime MDD and BD were 74.5% and 15.4%, respectively. There was no comorbidity in the SAD-NOMD group. Atypical depression, total number of depressive episodes and rate of PTSD comorbidity were higher in SAD-BD than in SAD-MDD. Additionally, OCD comorbidity was higher in SAD-BD than in SAD-NOMD. SAD-MDD group had higher social anxiety severity than SAD-NOMD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mood disorder comorbidity might be associated with increased severity and decreased functionality in patients with SAD.
authors.affiliation: Bahat Group Hospitals, Psychiatry Unit, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: ahmet_koyu@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koyuncu
authors.affiliation: Istanbul University, Istanbul Medical Faculty, Psychiatry Department, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: erhanert76@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Erhan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ertekin
authors.affiliation: Kanuni Sultan Süleyman Hospital, Psychiatric Clinic, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: zbinbay@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Zerrin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Binbay
authors.affiliation: Psychiatrist in private practice, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: ilkerozy@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ilker
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ozyıldırım
authors.affiliation: Istanbul University, Istanbul Medical Faculty, Psychiatry Department, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: cagriyuksel@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Cağrı
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yüksel
authors.affiliation: Istanbul University, Istanbul Medical Faculty, Psychiatry Department, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: rtukel@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Raşit
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tükel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult