Social Anxiety Disorder

Social Anxiety Disorder

Social anxiety disorders affect many people throughout the country. They can, in a sense, cripple the attitude that a person has towards the outside world. Sometimes a social anxiety disorder can be though of as just being shy, but it never goes away or lessens. As time goes on, the person will get worse and worse if no treatment is administered. They could possibly confine themselves to their own home, and never set foot outside unless it is absolutely necessary.

An anxiety disorder is often called "Social Phobia". Social phobia's basic definition is: "a persistent dread and avoidance of situations in which the person is exposed to possible scrutiny by others and fears acting in a way that will be humiliating or embarrassing". If a person has this particular phobia they will go to the greatest lengths to not have to do any kind of activity in public. These actions go from writing on public, speaking in front of people or a variety of other different things. It is so hard for a person to overcome this disease because it is such a natural thing to do and that person is scared to death of it. They are so scared to do anything normal, that they resort to spending all of their time trying to stay calm and not panic.

There are a few different situations that people with social phobia are: "speaking in public, eating in front of others, losing control of one's bowels or vomiting in public and hands trembling when writing in the presence of others". Some of the symptoms that people with this disorder experience are: "pounding heart, sweating, trembling or shaking, shortness of breath, choking, chest pain, nausea or abdominal discomfort, Ð''jelly' legs, dizziness, feelings of unreality or being detached from yourself, fear of losing control/ going crazy, fear of dying, numbness or tingling sensations and chills or hot flashes". These feeling are so tremendous, that they interfere with daily life and the person goes to extreme lengths to avoid the problem area.

"Social Phobia is the most common disease that affects United States adults." The other more common names for social phobia are stage fright and performance anxiety. The symptoms are the same with stage fright and social phobia. Another symptom are "butterflies" in the stomach and the common sweating and shaking.

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