Introduction
The Liebowitz scale examines fear and avoidance separately across 24 social or performance situations. That produces 48 responses on this page, including paired ratings for situations such as speaking, meeting others or being observed.
Fear and avoidance can diverge. Someone may attend a meeting while feeling intense anxiety; another person may have little recent anxiety because they have avoided meetings altogether. Keeping these two aspects separate helps describe what is happening.
SPIN covers social anxiety in a shorter set of statements that also includes bodily reactions. The Liebowitz format is useful when you want a situation-by-situation account. Notes about which activities matter to you can make the pattern easier to discuss than a total alone.
Instructions
This measure assesses the way that social phobia plays a role in your life across a variety of situations. Read each situation carefully and answer two questions about that situation. The first question asks how anxious or fearful you feel in the situation. The second question asks how often you avoid the situation.
If you come across a situation that you ordinarily do not experience, imagine “what if you were faced with that situation,” and then, rate the degree to which you would fear this hypothetical situation and how often you would tend to avoid it.
Please base your ratings on the way that the situations have affected you in the last week. Fill out the following scale with the most suitable answer provided below.
Scoring and result metrics
The result page reports a local screening score for this questionnaire. Use the score range, any subscale scores, and the interpretation band together rather than treating one number as a diagnosis.
- Score range
- 0-144
- Items scored
- 48
- Result indicators
- Total score / Subscale scores / Interpretation band when available
Subscale ranges
Fear
Reported range: 0-72
Avoidance
Reported range: 0-72
Score interpretation bands
- 0-54Lower range
Scores below 55 indicate little or no social anxiety.
- 55-65Moderate social anxiety
Scores in the 55-65 range indicate moderate social anxiety.
- 66-80Marked social anxiety
Scores in the 66-80 range indicate marked social anxiety.
- 81-96Severe social anxiety
Scores in the 81-96 range indicate severe social anxiety.
- 97-144Very severe social anxiety
Scores above 96 indicate very severe social anxiety.
Interpretation bands summarize screening thresholds from the questionnaire source material. Higher scores usually indicate more of the measured concern unless the tool notes a different scoring rule.
Tool information
- Version
- 48 questions
- Administration
- Self-report
- Intended audience
- Adults and older adolescents reviewing fear and avoidance across social interaction and performance situations
Sources
- Liebowitz MR. (1987). Social phobia.
- MR Liebowitz. Liebowitz Social Phobia Scale 22 Mod Probl Pharmacopsychiatry 143-171 (1987).
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