An investigation of impulsivity, anxiety sensitivity and nonsucidal self-injury behavior characteristics in patients with social phobia, agoraphobia and specific phobia

Objective: In this study, it was aimed to investigate the relationships between impulsivity, anxiety sensitivity and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and their relations in patients with Social Phobia, Agoraphobia and Specific Phobia in the category of Anxiety Disorders. Materials and Methods: The sample consisted of outpatients (n=108) who applied to the Department of Psychiatry of Duzce University School of Medicine during January 2016 to December 2016 in addition to healthy individuals (n=52) who had not received any psychiatric diagnosis serving as the control group. The outpatients with only one of Social Phobia, or Agoraphobia, or Specific Phobia were diagnosed based on DSM-5 criteria. Data were collected based on the socio-demographic form, the Barrat Impulsivity Scale (BIS-11), the Inventory of Statements about Self-Injury (ISAS), the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI-3) and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) were used. Results: BIS-11 mean total scores in Social Phobia, Agoraphobia groups and ASI-3 mean scores in all three phobia groups were higher (p=0.002 and p=0.001, respectively). The total score of ISAS was higher in the Social Phobia group (p=0.025). There was also a positive correlation between ISAS function scores and cognitive anxiety sensitivity in Agoraphobia and Specific Phobia groups (r=0.784, p=0.037 and r=0.617, p=0.014, respectively). Conclusions: Impulsivity characteristics in the Social Phobia and Agoraphobia groups are higher than those in the Specific Phobia and control groups. Different anxiety sensitivities and NSSI characteristics can be observed in different phobia types. In addition, anxiety sensitivity can play a regulatory role between impulsivity and NSSI of phobia patients.