Social Anxiety Disorder And Social Depression

If someone has a social anxiety disorder, that person gets nervous and over thinks about doing something because of the concern of doing something embarrassing. Having social anxiety makes the person who is suffering the disorder thinks that he/she is not acting right, he/she will be made fun of, and that others will notice his/her discomfort. Social anxiety makes it difficult for someone to meet new people and for showing his/her real personality. According to the Social Anxiety Support community, some

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

For example if you have a fast heartbeat, trouble catching your breath, confusion or feeling out of body, Muscle tension, Upset stomach, and dizziness or lightheadedness are all signs that you may have social anxiety. Social anxiety disorder can also be caused from emotional and psychological symptoms. For example, Fear of situations where you can be judged, fear of blushing, sweating, trembling or having a shaky voice, expecting the worse out of situations and avoiding being the center of attention are emotional symptom. Worrying about social situations or worrying about a social event for weeks are Psychological symptoms. People who try to avoid any social situations also can be a sign of social anxiety. For example, if a person avoids attending parties, Social gathering, talking to strangers, making eye contact or entering a room where people are already seated at or avoid any public places, are symptoms of social anxiety disorder. In the article, “Social Anxiety Disorder” (Mayoclinic.com) said,” Signs and symptoms of social anxiety disorder can include persistent: Fear of situations in which you may be judged, Worrying about embarrassing or humiliating yourself, Concern that you'll offend someone, intense fear of interacting or talking with strangers, fear that others will notice that you look anxious, fear of physical symptoms

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].

What is social anxiety, how is it different from shyness? And, are we a society of anxiety? Social anxiety disorder is defined by the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, as “excessive fear in a social situation in which the person believes he or she will do something embarrassing or have anxiety symptoms, that will be humiliating” These feared situations can vary from interpersonal social interactions in small groups to talking to strangers and performance fears.

Some emotional symptoms of social anxiety disorder are excessive self-consciousness and anxiety in every day social situations, intense worry for days, weeks, or even months before an upcoming social situation, extreme fear of being watched of judged by others, especially people that the person does not know, and fear that they will act in ways that will embarrass or humiliate themselves while in a social situation. (Melinda Smith,

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)

Aloof, shy and interested are just some of the words to describe how some people perceive someone with social anxiety disorder. Approximately seven percent of adults in the United States deal with it. Social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia, is a disorder where a person has an intense fear of a public or social situation. It first appears with a median onset age of 13, however it starts to show about 75% of the time between the ages of 8 and 15.

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).

     People who suffer from a social phobia will worry a lot about making a fool of themselves in front of other people, and will feel very anxious before going into any of the social situations that worry them. They may go through, in great detail, all the embarrassing things that could happen. When they are actually with people, they will feel even more anxious, and may be unable to say, or do, what is intended. In a way, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. You worry so much about looking worried that you actually do look worried. People experiencing both of these types of social phobia have many of the same physical symptoms. You may get a very dry mouth, sweat a lot, and feel your heart racing. Other people may be able to see some of the signs of this anxiety, such as blushing, stammering, shaking and trembling. Sometimes you may breathe too fast, which can give you feelings of numbness or pins and needles in the fingers and toes. This can make the anxiety even worse.     These feelings of fear and bodily symptoms can end in a panic attack. This is a short period, usually lasting only a few minutes, during which people feel overwhelmingly anxious, terrified of losing control, and may feel

others, being criticized, or being observed by others. Symptoms of social anxiety are high levels of stress, negative thought process, racing heart, sweating palms, etc. (Richards, 2015).

For instance, most people have felt shy or insecure on occasion, however, it does not interfere with their daily routines. On the other hand, people suffering from social anxiety disorder experience severe emotional, physical and behavioral symptoms. These symptoms hinder the person from functioning normally on a daily basis (Smith/Jaffe-Gill, 2014). Emotionally, the person fears being criticized and judged by others in everyday social situations. He or she is scared that they might embarrass or humiliate themselves. Frequently, when speaking in public, a person with social anxiety disorder might think, “Was that a yawn? She thinks I’m boring!” (Stein, 2007). These negative thoughts lead to serious physical symptoms, such as shortness of breath,

Social anxiety is “a feeling of discomfort, fear, or worry that is centered on our interactions with other people and involves a concern with being judged negatively, evaluated, or looked down upon by others” (Social Anxiety Support, 2014). Social anxiety can affect anyone. Individuals with social anxiety tend to prefer to keep to themselves because they are afraid others will judge them negatively and have a hard time interacting socially.

People with social anxiety disorder become anxious that they will make mistakes, feel awful, and humiliated in front of others. The fear become immense due to a lack of social skills or experience in social situations. As a result of that people undergo extreme distress in certain social situation and try to avoid them.