Social Phobia/Social Anxiety Disorder
What is Social Anxiety Disorder or Social Phobia?
Chronic condition associated with excessive or anticipatory anxiety which is restricted to social or performance situations and triggering a desire to escape or avoidance and which cause marked distress and interferes with social and individual functioning.
What are the signs and symptoms of Social Phobia?
Individuals fear they will act in ways that will be humiliating or embarrassing for themselves, or they will come under scrutiny, when they are exposed to unfamiliar people or social situations.
Exposure to the feared situation provokes extreme anxiety which may include a panic attack with body sensations such as blushing, trembling, dry mouth, and perspiration.
The individual avoids the feared social situation such as interaction with work colleagues or making presentations in school or endure it with intense anxiety and distress
Individuals are often self critical or perfectionistic
How common is Social Phobia?
Over the lifetime, between two and thirteen people out of every 100 individuals would have social phobia.
It is more common in males and usually manifests in childhood, peaking at age 5 years and again between age 11 and 15 years, although individuals do not present for treatment until they are in their 30’s.
What causes social phobia?
Social phobia is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors
Which mental conditions commonly coexist with social phobia?
Other anxiety disorders such as agoraphobia, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder commonly coexist with social phobia
Depression
Alcohol and substance misuse
How is social phobia treated?
If you feel you are having any of the signs and symptoms of social phobia listed above the first thing to do is to consider visiting your Family Doctor or talk to a healthcare professional.
Your doctor will take a history from you, do a mental state examination, perform a physical examination, and may order some blood tests before confirming you have social phobia.
Once it is confirmed you have social phobia, your doctor may prescribe you some medication such as SSRI antidepressants and beta blockers, and in some cases, your doctor may refer you to see a psychiatrist, who is a doctor who is an expert in treating individuals with mental health difficulties.
Your doctor may also refer you to a clinical psychologist or mental health therapist or counsellor to receive individual or group psychological treatment referred to commonly as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
CBT is a form of counselling in which the therapist helps an individual change the negative patterns of thinking which affects the individual’s behaviour and attitudes. Components of CBT when used to treat social phobia include relaxation training, anxiety management, social skills training and graded exposure with modelling.
Do individuals with social phobia get better?
About nine out of ten individuals with social phobia get better with treatment.
Individuals with social phobia often relapse when they stop taking their antidepressants
References