How Does Social Anxiety Disorder Effect the Routine of a Person?

Though most people might believe that mental disorders are rare, it is actually common, and nearly 42.5 million of American adults in the United States suffer from it. A common diagnosed mental disorder are anxiety disorders. A specific type of the anxieties is social anxiety. Social anxiety is a type of specific phobia that a person has an excessive fear of social situations. A common form would be public speaking. This type of disorder has the intense nervousness and self-consciousness when being watched, and fears the feeling of being criticized. Though social anxiety is more of an internal illness, physical symptoms are shown. The physical symptoms include sweating, shaking, muscle tension, upset stomach, and excessive heart pounding. Without treatment, this type of feeling builds the fear of that individuals by distorting their thinking of false beliefs about the social situations. The negative and fearful thoughts prevail the individual’s normal daily routine, and this can lead into more fearful social situation.

Social anxiety, also known as social phobia, is a feeling of fear and discomfort of being judged badly by other people. Anyone can experience this at work, school, special events, and even at doing everyday things. Many people have experienced a feeling like this and that is normal. But having a social anxiety disorder can have a huge affect in someone’s life style. The effects of having disorder can lead to bad results in life.

Social Anxiety “is characterised by intense fear or anxiety about social situations where a person may be observed by others, and where the person fears that their behaviour or anxiety symptoms will attract negative evaluation” (American Psychiatric Association,

The study of Social anxiety shows no clear causes for its variety of symptoms, but psychologists have been able to determined triggers and possible factors for its development. As psychologists continue to study social phobia, they have determined many possible causes. Since the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, psychologists have

The DSM-5 (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) defines social anxiety as, “A persistent fear of one or more social or performance situations in which the person is exposed to unfamiliar people or to possible scrutiny by

Social anxiety disorder (SAD), also know as social phobia, affects between 1.6% and 4.0% of children. Like other anxiety disorders, girls are more likely to be diagnosed with SAD than boys (Chavira & Stein, 2002). The defining features of SAD are excessive self-consciousness that is more than just common shyness. Individuals with SAD fear social or performance situations where they may face scrutiny or humiliation. The two subtypes of SAD are generalized and non-generalized. Approximately 75% of individuals with SAD experience the generalized type, which is characterized by experiencing distress in almost all social situations. Non-generalized SAD is characterized by experiencing anxiety in only one or two types of interpersonal situations, like public speaking. Generalized social anxiety disorder has high comorbidity with major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, specific phobias, and ADHD. Non-generalized SAD however has low comorbidity with other disorders. Children with selective mutism have a significantly high comorbidity rate with SAD, about 97% to 100% (Chavira & Stein, 2005).

Social Phobia can also be addressed as Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD); the scientific name for this disorder is ‘Anthropophobia’, which according to Right Diagnosis (2014) means an irrational fear of people or groups of people. The National Health Service (2014) describes Anthropophobia or Social Phobia as a tenacious fear of social situations and people; furthermore, the NHS credits Social Phobia to be the most common anxiety disorder. According to the International Classification of Diseases 2010 (ICD-10), symptoms of this disorder have been known to manifest themselves as blushing, hand tremors, nausea and the frequent urgency of micturition. These symptoms appear when the sufferer is faced with situations where social interactions may arise. Other symptoms may include palpations, dizziness, panic attacks, diarrhoea, muscle tension, excessive sweating, shaking, poor social skills, low self-esteem and high sensitivity to criticism. Due to the nature of the symptoms that accompany Social Phobia,

Social phobia, more commonly known as social anxiety, defines itself as having a fear of scrutinizing judgement or embarrassment from peers or people of authority. One usually acquires this disorder from his or hers environment when growing up. The National Institute

In simple terms, social anxiety is a disorder that dramatically influences people's daily lives and their relationship with society [10]. In addition to this, social phobia leads people to experience excessive stress and deep fears intensively in a social situation [10]. It should be noted that social anxiety disorder manifests itself with various symptoms that can be listed such as blushing, sweating, trembling, tachycardia, nausea, stuttering, cluttering and more [11,12].

Social anxiety disorder, which is also called social phobia involves overwhelming worry and self-consciousness about everyday social situations. The worry often centers on a fear of being judged by others, or behaving in a way that might cause embarrassment or lead to ridicule. The fear may be made worse by a lack of social skills or experience in social situations. The anxiety can build into a panic attack. As a result of the fear, the person endures certain social situations in extreme distress or may avoid them altogether. In addition, people with social anxiety disorder often suffer anticipatory anxiety, the fear of a situation before it even happens, for days or weeks before the event. In many cases, the person is aware that the fear is unreasonable, yet is unable to overcome it. (Goldberg)

Social anxiety disorder or (SAD) is a type of anxiety disorder that is characterized by people with a fear of interacting with other people, in fear of judgement or ridicule.

Social Phobia, also called social anxiety disorder (SAD), is one of the most common, but misconstrued mental health problems in society. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), over 15 million adults suffer from the disorder. First appearing in the DSM-III as Social Phobia, and later in the DSM-IV as Social Anxiety Disorder, this newly established disorder denotes afflicting stress and anxiety associated with social situations (Zakri 677). According to James W. Jefferson, two forms of Social phobia exist: specific and generalized. Specific social phobia indicates anxiety limited to few performance situations, while generalized indicates anxiety in all social situations (Jefferson). Many people often interchangeably link this disorder to shyness––a personality trait. However, although they have striking similarities, the two are divergent. To begin with, SAD has an extensive etiology ranging from multiple factors. Furthermore, symptoms of various aspects accompany SAD. Moreover, SAD has detrimental impacts affecting quality of life. Lastly, SAD has numerous methods of treatment. Social Phobia is prevalent in both women and men beginning at the onset of puberty (ADAA).

Among all anxiety problems, social anxiety disorder is most common anxiety issue and third most common problem in all mental complications (American Psychiatric Association, 2000; Hofmann & Bogels, 2006). SAD is a mental disorder which has a tendency to become chronic and badly disturbs normal functions of life if not diagnosed and treated in time (Beesdo-Baum, et al., 2012; Garcia-Lopez, Piqueras, Diaz-Castela, & Ingles, 2008). It is also among the most prevailing mental disorders and is described in Criterion A of DSM-V as “Marked fear or anxiety about one or more social situations in which the individual is exposed to possible scrutiny by others. Examples include social interactions (e.g., having a conversation, meeting unfamiliar people), being observed (e.g., eating or drinking), and performing in front of others (e.g., giving a speech)” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). A specific amount of anxiety is always anticipated socially and helps an individual managing future threats (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). But having social anxiety means that anxiety is too much for normal functioning during social situations and often interferes with

Social anxiety disorder (social phobia) can be described as an extreme, persistent fear of being scrutinized or judged by others in social situations. This fear may lead to feelings of embarrassment, humiliation and self-consciousness. People who suffer from this condition may “feel powerless against their anxiety” (ADAA). These emotions often interfere with daily activities, such as school, work and personal relationships. The person might begin to withdraw socially or avoid situations in which he or she is afraid. Millions of Americans endure this devastating condition every day of their lives. There are several causes, symptoms and treatments.

Social anxiety disorder, also called social phobia, is a disorder in which a person has an excessive and unreasonable fear of social situations. Social Anxiety causes intense nervousness and self-consciousness arises from a fear of being closely watched, judged, and criticized by others.