Essay On Social Anxiety Disorder

Social Anxiety Disorder Social anxiety disorder causes fear that affects a person, arises with reasoning, and is treatable. Social anxiety disorder, or social phobia, causes the difficulty to socialize because of the fear and anxiety of embarrassment. It affects a person physically and behaviorally. There are many causes and risk factors to reason why social phobia occurs. The treatments contain multiple approaches. It affects fifteen million Americans and is the third most common psychological disorder in the United States (Weston; Schneier 515). Social phobia is very impactful.

The symptoms of social anxiety disorder are physical and behavioral. The physical symptoms of social phobia are “fast heartbeat, nausea, dizziness, diarrhea, muscle tension, sweating, trembling, and shortness of breath“ (Mayo Clinic Staff; “Phobias”). The behavioral symptoms of social phobia are the fear of being judged, humiliating oneself, talking to people, and of own physical appearance. A person may also feel anxiety from the “anticipation of a feared event”, analyze past conversations, and avoid social situations. Examples of social situations are “using a public restroom, interacting with strangers, making eye contact, dating, and returning items to a store” (Mayo

Growing up in a family that is more stern of their children creates an environment where social anxiety can become a “learned behavior”. When a child is timid or shy during new situations due to “temperament”, or a person’s nature, poses a greater risk to develop social anxiety. A “health condition”, such as a “facial disfigurement, stuttering, Parkinson’s disease… can increase the feelings of self-consciousness and trigger social anxiety disorder in some people” (Mayo Clinic Staff). As noted in “Phobias”, social anxiety disorder usually develops during adolescence to “early