The paper deals with social phobia, its most frequent symptoms, and points to these problems within the framework of primary healthcare. It delimits its epidemiology and comorbidity with other psychiatric disorders, describes differential diagnostics and its etiopathogenesis with regard to the elucidation of the neurobiological mechanisms of social phobia with the aid of visualization techniques, and presents a review of risk factors. It deals with psychological theories on the development,appearance and maintenance of social phobia,on the one hand from the behavioral point of view and on the other from the point of view of contemporary cognitive theories, as well as from the point of view of neuropsychology which stresses the significance of information processing in the origin, development and maintenance of social phobia. Further on is outlined the cognitive-behavioral model of social phobia as well as methods of cognitive behavioral therapy such as education, training of social and communicative abilities, exposure and cognitive restructuralization. The final part deals with the specifics of social phobia in neurological patients, namely in those with epilepsy where cognitive conviction of the criticism and negative evaluation of others appears secondarily in consequence of the somatic affection.

        Key words: social phobia - epilepsy - cognitive behavioral therapy - primary healthcare.