Social Phobias

(Dupont, R.L., 1996). There are many categories of anxiety disorders, which most likely contributes to the large amount of people affected by them. I suffer from generalized anxiety disorder as well as social anxiety disorder. General anxiety disorder is a persistent and unrealistic worry every day. Social anxiety disorder is a fear of being judged and watched by people in social or public situations. It’s common for someone diagnosed with an anxiety disorder to also suffer from depression, this is also the case for me. Almost half of the people diagnosed with anxiety are also diagnosed with depression. (Anxiety and Depression Association of America, 2015). There are many illnesses that take place along with anxiety, some examples are: ADHD, Sleep disorders, IBS, Bipolar disorder and many others. (Anxiety and Depression Association of America, 2015). Suffering from anxiety is a real issue and affects

Another type of anxiety disorder is social anxiety disorder, which pertains to having a fear of being embarrassed, or making a fool out of themselves in front of others. When the individual is placed in a social situation, they may experience severe, persistent, and irrational anxiety about it. Furthermore, the individual may be narrow, in that they are just afraid when it comes to public speaking, or the individual may be broad, in which they do not talk at all. Whereas another type of anxiety disorder, panic disorder, pertains to experiencing an extreme anxiety, or panic attack, when triggered by something or a particular situation. Some of the symptoms include having short breaths, high heart rate, feel like they are dying or having a heart attack, sweating, shaking, and/or light headed and dizziness.

Anxiety disorders are a common emotional disorder, with APA identifying six types of anxiety disorders: generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety disorder, specific phobia, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The symptoms that include overwhelming feelings of panic and fear, uncontrollable obsessive thoughts, painful, intrusive memories, recurring nightmares, physical symptoms etc. Strongman (1995) broadly classifies the theories of anxiety as psychoanalytic, learning/ behavioural, physiological, phenomenological/ existential, cognitive, and those concerned with uncertainty (Strongman, 1995).

Social anxiety is the excessive fear of social situations, which stems from a fear of negative evaluation.

“Social anxiety was rated using the SIAS. The scale measures anxiety-related reactions to a variety of social interaction situations relevant to SAD.” This study used the Italian adaptation of the SIAS. The Italian SIAS has 19 items that describe reactions to social situations. Items are scored on a Likert scale ranging from 0 (not at all) to 4 (extremely). SIAS scores range from 0 to 76. A score over 23 is a positive test for SAD in adolescents

Victims can only learn how to manage their symptoms and teach themselves how to overcome their fears. Any person suffering from social anxiety should find help. Because of this, many assume therapy is the only solution, and though it does remain the most effective option for a person, social anxiety’s affects can also improve with a change in one’s lifestyle. A person can take a social skills class, join a support group, limit one’s caffeine intake, moderate alcohol consumption, quit smoking, and get at least eight consecutive hours of sleep. Changing one’s routine could help, but every victim should seek help from a therapist or specialist who has a background in this specific disorder. Group therapy, where a person would participate in role play and social skill training, has become popular recently among victims, but cognitive-behavioral therapy, which deals with the symptoms and negative thoughts head on, has become the only proven successful treatment for this illness. Cognitive-behavioral therapy will not eliminate the disorder, but it can teach victims how to deal their fear and improve their social ability among peers. Based on “what makes you think affects how you feel” (Richards), CBT teaches a victim to face his or her fear straight away. The specialist will teach them to focus their attention onto other people in the room in an attempt to stop them from over analyzing their own

Do I enjoy public speaking ? Some people enjoy public speaking while others are frightened by it. Well I do I think it fun cause I like to talk loud and to many people. Here are some reasons that could decide if people are frightened by or enjoy public speaking, Anxiety, PTSD, and why people enjoy it.

Social anxiety is the most frequent disorder suffered world wide. It is the fear of being evaluated

Social phobia or social anxiety disorder (SAD), and Avoidant personality disorder (AVPD) are both characterized by having significant interference in social situations. This essay will focus on a cognitive view to explain the similarities and differences between them.

The diagnosis of social phobia requires the symptoms to be “consistent and persistent”, as well as causing significant distress which damage social, occupational, or other important areas of life functioning (Irena, 2015, p.). Unlike shyness, where most people occasionally experience in their lives, social phobia is much more disruptive and pathological (Jefferson, 2001). For people with social phobia, they could even feel the pain before an event that they know would involve evaluation actually happen (NIMH, 2013; Irena, 2015, p.).

Anxiety disorders are the most common psychological disorders in the United States. It is a type of abnormal behavior characterized by unrealistic and irrational fear. There are four main types of anxiety disorders which are generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder, phobias, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). GAD is a disorder that makes a person suffer from experienced fears and worries that are not focused on any specific threat, their anxiety is chronic and lasts about 6 months. Secondly panic disorders are sudden attacks of intense apprehension that cause trembling, dizziness, and difficulty breathing, these panic attacks happen after frightening exercise or prolonged stress. Phobias involve a big fear and avoidance of situations

They are very anxious about being with other people. They are very self-conscious in front of other people. They are anxious about how they themselves will act. They are very afraid of being embarrassed in front of other people. They are terrified that other people will judge them. They worry for days or weeks before an event where other people will be. They stay away from places where there are other people. They have a hard time making friends and keeping friends. They may have body symptoms when they are with other people. For example; blushing, nausea, trembling, heavy sweating, and having a hard time talking[NIMH].

I left my house on a Summer’s night, with no worries but with a little bit of confusion. This was very unusual for me. I remember how amazing the weather felt. It wasn’t too warm and it wasn’t too cold. I felt comfortable in my own skin. I was a bit excited because it was a night that I had planned for a while with some old high school friends. It had been a while since I spoke to either one of them and it was definitely time for a gathering. On the way there I felt myself become nervous. I started to sweat as if I ran a mile or a marathon. This didn’t feel like my typical self when I would get nervous. This was a feeling of nervousness with fear. It was coming back. I thought I had been cured of this ugly feeling but, I was wrong.

Social anxiety should be classified as a social disorder instead of a mental disorder because certain situations placed on an individual with social anxiety makes the person feel trapped and unable to socialize with peers. It would let people in schools have a better insight of their students with this disorder. If it is classified as a social disorder, people will get a better understanding, and have less stigma in the public eye, as well as more support in schools and workplaces. Social anxiety is a disorder that is marked by the individual’s fear of interpersonal interactions with others which causes them to look upon people very often. Specifically, social anxiety is a fear of socializing with society, and being judged by their lack of

Social Anxiety also known as Social phobia was finally added to the list of anxiety disorders in the year of 1986. Social Anxiety Disorder has the earliest onset of almost any mental disorder. Jaret, Peter by definition is “the fear of interaction with other people that brings on self-consciousness, feelings of being negatively judged and evaluated, and, as a result, leads to avoidance.” Before it became known as a phobia or an anxiety disorder it was known as a personality disorder. There are many different signs and symptoms of this disorder and they look a lot like being shy except these are much worse. These symptoms are both seen and unseen but many patients are misunderstood to be just shy rather than having an actual disorder. (Schrof, Joannie M., and Stacey Schultz.)