Social Anxiety Paper

One of the most common mental illnesses in the United States is anxiety disorders. It affects 18% of the population (ADAA). "Anxiety is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, and physical changes like increased blood pressure"(Encyclopedia of Psychology). There are numerous kinds of anxiety, ranging from generalized anxiety disorder to obsessive-compulsive disorder. The utmost common forms of anxiety consist of generalized, social, and panic,(ADAA). As for myself, I suffer from all three major forms.

To the general public, anxiety tends to be known simply as the feeling of being overly nervous. However, in the sense of this paper, anxiety is an umbrella term for a group of psychological disorders that, while similar in many ways, can vary greatly in their symptomology. For the sake of simplicity, this paper will focus mainly on Generalized Anxiety Disorder; however, the National Institute of Mental Health (2016) states that the three most common forms of anxiety disorders are Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, and Panic Disorder (National Institute of Mental Health, 2016). In fact, these disorders are much more common than many think: according to the NIMH, the lifetime prevalence of any anxiety disorder in U.S. adults

In the article “anxiety: getting excited beats trying to calm down” PSYblog reports that saying “I am excited” over and over again would make a person perform better before a stressful situation. The disorder associated with this article is anxiety and it is defined as an disorder that shows an excess response of what is usually an ordinary response (Cacioppo & Freberg, 2016, p.561). Also, in “anxious and egocentric: how specific emotions influence perspective taking” this article states anxiety is identified by discomfort and large action in physiological stimulation in Russell's circumplex model of affect (Todd, R., Andrew, Forstmann, Matthias, Burgmer, Pascal, Brooks, W., Alison, Galinsky, D., Adam, 2015, pg. 375). Not only, was there evidence in just this example of what anxiety is but there is many more examples stated in the article “anxious and egocentric: how specific emotions influence perspective taking.” In the pop article, it also stated some examples of social anxiety disorder which is talking in front of entirely new crowd of people and then having the concern of being stared at and then being reprimanded (Cacioppo and Freberg, 2016, p.562).

A panic attack is an unexpected occurrence of intense fear that triggers severe physical reactions when there is no real hazard or apparent cause. Panic attacks can be very frightening. When panic attacks take place, one might think they are losing control, having a heart attack or even dying. A lot of people have just one or two panic attacks in their lifetimes, and the trouble goes away, possibly when a stressful condition ends. Panic attacks were once discounted as nerves or stress, but they're now acknowledged as a real medical condition. Even though panic attacks can appreciably affect ones quality of life, treatment can be very successful

The fear or anxiety they have is out of proportion to the actual danger they face. The fear might occur in anticipation or in the actual event or presence of the situation that they feared. This might and often does take the form of a panic attack or a limited symptom attack, which is an attack that is not as severe as a panic attack. This fear happens nearly every time the person is in this situation not just every once in a while. It causes significant distress and changes behavior so that it may impair the person socially, occupationally, or in other significant areas of their life. For it to be considered agoraphobia if it is combined with another medical condition the fear, anxiety and avoidance must show signs of being excessive and out of proportion to their actual situation. (APA, 2013, pg 218)

In case study #4 Louise a 69-year-old architect, has a fear of public speaking, to the point that she is even afraid to speak up at a business meeting. This is causing her problems at work because she avoids situations where she will have to speak in front of other people. She is afraid that she will appear stupid and that other people will make fun of her. Louise may be suffering from social anxiety or social phobia.

The feeling of anxiety is familiar to all of us and we all experienced some anxiety and fear at least once in our life. Whether that was the first day in a new workplace, the first day in college, or before an important meeting, we felt that we were really anxious and nervous. From the evolutionary perspective, the conservation of fear and anxiety among some species is a good indication that those emotions are highly important for survival. Some people, however, experience an excessive and unreasonable amount of anxiety, which may be the result of social anxiety disorder. Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a psychological disorder during which people experience enormous social phobia and are irrationally afraid of being judged by others in social settings (Lima Osório, 2013).Although it is considered as a common anxiety disorder, I do believe that with appropriate treatments and therapies, individual approach to each patient and willingness to help them, many people can overcome the social phobia, can make stronger interpersonal relationships with their friends and relatives, and can integrate into their social community with no or at least less fear of communicating with others.

Social anxiety disorder is still widely and seriously misunderstood both by the medical world and by society in general. It is very important not only to medically and scientifically be able to obtain more information on social anxiety disorder, how it develops, and how it can be treated, but, it is equally as important to make this information accessible to a larger community. Information alone cannot educate people about what this disorder looks like and what people who suffer from social anxiety feel and think, but it is one step in a larger process. Social anxiety, like several other mental health related disorders, carries a stigma, which can only be dismantled if people are forced to recognize that these disorders exist and that they

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is often mistaken for shyness. While the two can coexist, noticing the differences is essentially in terms of diagnosing whether an individual is suffering from a serious disorder or just shyness.

     Social anxiety is the fear of social situations and the interaction with other people that can automatically bring on feelings of self-consciousness, judgement, evaluation, and inferiority. Put differently social anxiety is the fear and anxiety of being judged and evaluated negatively by other people, leading to feelings of inadequacy, embarrassment, humiliation, and depression. If a person usually becomes anxious in social situations, but seems fine when they are by them selves, then social anxiety may be the problem.

Feeling anxious before giving a speech or presenting a project is normal, but when that anxiety carries over into being nervous before going to a casual party or meeting up with friends, that is when it might be more than just nerves. Social anxiety is one of the most common forms of anxiety. About fifteen million adults in America suffer from social anxiety, with the typical onset age being thirteen (Social Anxiety Disorder). Overcoming social anxiety takes tremendous efforts and can take many years. There are many different methods people have tried using to overcome their fears. Two common ones people use are learning to control their breath and cognitive-behavioral therapy. With persistence and determination, people can learn to deal with their social anxiety the healthy way, or better yet, overcome it completely.

Fear and anxiety are normal emotions that all children and adolescents experience. Fear is defined as “the emotional response to a real or perceived threat,” whereas anxiety is “the worry about a future threat” (DSM-5). When fear or anxiety either becomes excessive, or persists beyond the developmentally appropriate period, it is no longer developmentally normative and is indicative of an anxiety disorder (DSM-5). There are a large number of anxiety disorders, including separation anxiety disorder, selective mutism, social anxiety disorder and specific phobia. While the type of object or situation that provokes anxiety differs across disorders, the disorders are all characterized by “excessive fear and anxiety and related behavioral disturbances”

Anxiety disorders are a very common problems that affect millions of people every day. In fact anxiety disorders are the most common syndromes in the world. According to the World Health Organization anxiety disorders affect people all across the globe with varying prevalence ranging from approximately three to five percent of the populations in Asia, Africa, and Europe and peaking at 18 percent in the United States. The causes for them, as well as the symptoms, severity, and forms of treatment can differ greatly. There aren’t too many of us who haven’t experienced some form of it at one point in our lives, and for many it can be an everyday occurrence that can range from slightly bothersome

The Social anxiety Association classifies social anxiety as the fear of interacting with other and social situations. Social anxiety causes fear and anxiety in most if not all aspects of ones lives. Social anxiety is the fear of being negatively judge or evaluated by others. It is a chronic disease that it does not go away on its own, only direct cognitive-behavioral therapy can help people overcome their social anxiety. There are a few situations that can trigger social anxiety such as being introduced to

Over the course of my life, I have been subject to social anxiety. Being around others often times makes me really uncomfortable. This really doesn’t necessarily apply in it’s fullest extent when I’m conversing with one person directly, but when talking to a group of people I sometimes stammer and lose focus. This anxiety, though something that may seem trivial, is something that has always held me back from involving myself in larger activities. Although I have been inhibited by my anxiety, I have taken steps to, or at the very least attempt to, involve myself with more things in order to remedy my situation.