Research Article The Presence of Childhood Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder May Be Associated With Interpersonal Sensitivity in Patıents With Social Anxiety Disorder The goal of this study was to evaluate a possible association between childhood attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and inter- personal sensitivity in patients with social anx- iety disorder (SAD). The study involved 125 adult outpatients with a primary diagnosis of SAD. To evaluate childhood ADHD, the ADHD module of the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School Age Children- Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL) was used. Clinical and sociodemographic data were collected and clinical rating scales were com- pleted. Mean total scores on the Interpersonal Sensitivity Measure were significantly higher in the group with SAD and ADHD than in the group with SAD without ADHD. Interpersonal Sensitivity Measure total scores were positively correlated with the severity of SAD symptoms and negatively correlated with mean age of onset of SAD. The presence of childhood ADHD may be associated with greater interpersonal sensitivity in patients with SAD. (Journal of Psychiatric Practice 2017;23;254–259) KEY WORDS: social anxiety disorder, attention- deficit/hyperactivity disorder, comorbidity, inter- personal sensitivity Interpersonal sensitivity (IPS) can be defined as the ability to sense, perceive accurately, and respond appropriately to one’s personal, interpersonal and social environment. 1 In 1989, Boyce and Parker 2 proposed the concept of IPS as a construct of neu- roticism and described it as extreme awareness of the behavior and thinking of others. Subsequently in 1996, Downey and Feldman 3 defined rejection sensitivity in terms of a social-psychological per- spective and suggested that, instead of a person- ality structure, rejection sensitivity might involve a set of cognitive and affective processes. They defined that concept as a tendency to anticipate anxiously, easily perceive, and overreact to refusal in interpersonal situations. Levy et al 4 developed the Rejection Sensitivity Model, which was published in 2001. They suggested that rejection experiences lead to hypervigilance, which is associated with anxious or hostile expect- ations of rejection. They proposed that this hyper- vigilance can distort perceptions of other people’s behavior, causing defensiveness that can have a negative effect on relationships. Clinical research has found that IPS is associated with social anxiety. 5,6 Moreover, IPS may represent an underlying personality feature of persons with social anxiety disorder (SAD), especially patients with the generalized type of SAD. 7 Tada et al 8 found that 82% of patients with SAD had IPS and that the severity of IPS was correlated with scores on the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) and the Brief Social Phobia Scale. It has recently been suggested that IPS is not only associated with SAD, but also may be linked with childhood attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). 9–11 Associations between ADHD and anxiety disorders have also been well established. A longi- tudinal study found that, after 5 years of follow-up, children with ADHD were nearly 9 times more likely to develop an anxiety disorder than children without ADHD, and the authors suggested that ADHD is a risk factor for developing an anxiety disorder. 12 The number of studies examining the relation- ship between SAD and ADHD has increased in AHMET KOYUNCU, MD FAHRI ÇELEBI, MD ERHAN ERTEKIN, MD ÇAĞDAŞ Ö. MEMIŞ, MD RAŞIT TÜKEL, MD KOYUNCU: Academy Social Phobia Center, Atatürk Mah, Küçükçekmece/Istanbul, Turkey; ÇELEBI: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Zonguldak Kadin Doğum ve Çocuk Hastalıkları Hastanesi, Zonguldak, Turkey; ERTEKIN and TÜKEL: Department of Psychiatry, Istanbul Medical School, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey; MEMIŞ: Depart- ment of Psychiatry, Medical School, Aydin University, Aydin, Turkey Copyright © 2017 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Please send correspondence to: Ahmet Koyuncu, MD, Acad- emy Social Phobia Center, Atatürk Mah, I ̇ kitelli Cad. No:126A/Daire:6, Küçükçekmece/Istanbul, 34306, Turkey (e-mail: ahmet_koyu@hotmail.com). DOI: 10.1097/PRA.0000000000000246 254 July 2017 Journal of Psychiatric Practice Vol. 23, No. 4 Copyright © 2017 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.