Is There Any Relationship between Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)?

Social anxiety disorder (SAD), formerly known as social phobia, is a pervasive disorder. When placed in social situations, individuals with social phobia experience intense and pervasive fear. People with SAD are afraid that they may be embarrassed or humiliated in front of others, itself leading to experiences of severe fear and anxiety. The instruments employed in this study were three questionnaires, namely demographic questionnaire, Connor Social Panic Inventory (SPIN), and The Conners' Adult ADHD Rating Scales–Self Report: Short Version (CAARS–S:S). For the purposes of this study, full-scale convenience sampling was performed on the statistical population of all medical students studying at the Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch in the academic year 2018.

209 people were included in this study, of whom 103 (49.3%) were male and 106 (50.7%) were female. Also, the mean age of the subjects was 25±2 years. Correlation coefficients between the items of inventories indicated a significant correlation between all subscales of ADHD and the presence or absence of social anxiety. There was no significant difference between the scores of male and female students. Based on the findings of this study, it seems that people with a social anxiety disorder are more likely to experience ADHD, while on the other hand, people with ADHD are more likely to have social anxiety.