Childhood adversities, bonding, and personality in social anxiety disorder with alcohol use disorder.
Stefanie Rambau, Andreas J Forstner, Ingo Wegener, Martin Mücke, Christine T S Wissussek, Sabine M Staufenbiel, Franziska Geiser, Johannes Schumacher, Rupert Conrad
Author Information
Stefanie Rambau: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: Stefanie.Rambau@ukbonn.de.
Andreas J Forstner: Institute of Human Genetics, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany; Department of Genomics, Life & Brain Center, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany; Department of Psychiatry (UPK), University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Human Genomics Research Group, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: Forstner@uni-bonn.de.
Ingo Wegener: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: Ingo.Wegener@ukbonn.de.
Martin Mücke: Department of Palliative Medicine, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: Martin.Muecke@ukbonn.de.
Christine T S Wissussek: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: Christine.Wissussek@gmx.de.
Sabine M Staufenbiel: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: Sabine.Staufenbiel@ukbonn.de.
Franziska Geiser: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: Franziska.Geiser@ukbonn.de.
Johannes Schumacher: Institute of Human Genetics, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany; Department of Genomics, Life & Brain Center, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: Johannes.Schumacher@uni-bonn.de.
Rupert Conrad: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: Rupert.Conrad@ukbonn.de.
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is frequently associated with alcohol use disorders (abuse/dependence). However, there has been little research on the characteristics of this subgroup so far. In the current study we investigated individuals with SAD and comorbid alcohol use disorder (AUD) with regard to socialization experiences and personality. The sample comprised 410 individuals diagnosed with SAD by the Structured Clinical Interview of DSM-IV. 108 participants with comorbid AUD were compared to 302 participants without comorbid AUD concerning traumatic experiences during childhood and adolescence (Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire; ACE), parental bonding (Parental Bonding Instrument; PBI), and personality (Temperament and Character Inventory; TCI). MANCOVA with covariates sex and depression displayed that individuals with SAD plus AUD reported significantly more traumatic events during childhood and adolescence, lower levels of maternal care, as well as lower cooperativeness. Our results highlight that adverse childhood experiences and unfavourable maternal bonding characterize individuals suffering from SAD plus AUD. These experiences might be reflected in a personality-based tendency to distance themselves from others, which corresponds to low scores on the character dimension cooperativeness. A deeper understanding of personality and specific socialization experiences is necessary to develop new treatment options in this clinically challenging subgroup.
