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Social anxiety
Effect of peer pressure children
Effect of peer pressure children
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Many people in today’s society are considered shy, but when is it more than that? Many people believe that extreme shyness is just that, shyness, but sometimes it can be something else. People who avoid social interactions, avoid being in the spotlight, and deal with extreme shyness might have social anxiety, or social phobia, a mental disorder that affects daily and social life in a negative way. Like other anxiety disorders, social anxiety is considered to be a mental illness, and medical professionals treat it as one. Other people think that it is just extreme shyness, and will go away on its own. Is social anxiety something that people should treat as an illness or just extreme shyness?
What is Social anxiety? Social anxiety disorder, or social phobia, is an anxiety disorder that makes a person afraid of social interactions and large groups of people. A person with social anxiety will be afraid of public speaking and being in large or even small groups. Social anxiety has many physical symptoms. Some symptoms of social anxiety are stomach aches, nausea, rapid heartbeat, dizziness, dry mouth, and headache. These symptoms are very similar to other anxiety disorders, and make the sufferer feel even worse and worsen their anxiety. These physical symptoms can be treated with over the counter medication and rest, but they will not stop the anxiety and negative thoughts. Negative thoughts arise from thinking that other people are judging them in a negative way, not being able to communicate, being lonely, and usually get worse the more time the disorder is untreated.
Social anxiety usually starts in the late teens and early adulthood. It can be inherited from family, caused by an imbalance of hormones in the brain, or by a traumat...
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...l anxiety does not trust anyone, and will often come to wrong conclusions on what people think of them. Sufferers develop low self-esteem from thinking that they are different from not being able to communicate properly and thinking that other people are thinking of them in a humiliating and negative way. Often people with social anxiety believe that they are worse than others, and are not loved. Depression soon arrives after thinking negative thoughts for such a long time that it over takes them and consumes their minds. Depression can lead to the person having suicidal thoughts which can eventually lead them to taking their own life.
Because of the severity of social anxiety, it should be treated as a mental illness. Without proper treatment and support, a person with social anxiety will get overwhelmed with fear of being judged, and cease to function in society.
An entire hoard of cases involving both disorders arise each year (“The Effects of Depression in Your Body”). While both disorders could have appeared without any correlation, depression can cause one to worry unduly. This worry could continue into something more. After a while, these worried feelings could evolve into a full-blown anxiety disorder (Singh and Mastana).
One of the most common anxiety disorder is social phobia, which can sometimes be interchangeable with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). Marc de Rosnay, and others, states that Social Anxiety Disorder is characterized by a clearly noticeable fear and avoidance of most social situations where the individual may be put under scrutiny by others, and by fear in such situations, the individual will behave in an embarrassing manner (de Rosnay). One of the most notable feature of social phobia is that it has an early onset, as early as 7-9 months in most cases. The characteristics of having social phobia, or social anxiety disorder, is that the individuals are shy when meeting new people, quiet in a large group, blush easily, and often avoids making eye contact. There are a lot of concerns/problems with having social anxiety disorder. As a group, individuals with anxiety disorders had the largest burden of role disability compared to other common mental health conditions, exceeding the burden for mood disorders and in some cases, substance abuse (Grigorenko).
In general, Social Anxiety Disorder, or Social Phobia, is defined as an anxiety disorder characterized by an overwhelming amount of anxiety and excessive self-consciousness in everyday social situations (“Social Phobia,” 2014). These individuals have trouble with basic communication and interaction, often to the point where they can physically feel the effects of their anxiety. Profuse sweating, stomach ache, and nausea are not uncommon occurrences when a person with Social Anxiety Disorder is placed in an uncomfortable situation. There are several hypothesized causes of Social Anxiety Disorder; however, one of the most
Those who have social phobia have a strong fear of being embarrassed, or being judged by others. Most people that have social anxiety know that they shouldn’t be as afraid as they are but, they cannot control their fear. When they are in or around public they become very self-conscious, and tend to
Social anxiety is a predominant disorder amongst numerous individuals (Moscovitch, Gavric, Senn, Satnesso, Miskovic, Schmidt, McCabe, Antony 2011). Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is defined as a fear of rejection and being negatively judged by others in social situations (Kashdan, Farmer, Adams, Mcknight, Ferssizidis, Nezelf, 2013).
Having anxiety is common and a part of everyday life however; there is a huge difference between a fear and a social phobia or anxiety disorder. The difference and important distinction psychoanalysts make between a fear and a phobia is “a true phobia must be inconsistent with the conscious learning experience of the individual” (Karon 1). Patients with true phobias “do not respond to cognitive therapy but do respond well to psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic therapy” (Karon 2). Social phobia is a serious anxiety disorder that should not be taken lightly or mistaken as a fear you will simply grow out of the older you get. Social phobia has the power to destroy lives and can prevent people from living and enjoying their life to the fullest. Social phobia is a disabling condition that often starts between the ages of early childhood and late adolescence. The origins of social phobia can be linked to “traumatic social experiences and social isolation” (Hudson118-120). Social phobia is treatable however; research and statics show that not many seek help.
SAD is the third most prevalent mental disorder behind depression and alcoholism. About 5.3 million American adults have social phobia, which usually begins in childhood or adolescence, according to NIMH. For many social phobics, preoccupation with what others think may interfere in their job, school, relationships or other social activities. "Everyday interactions can become very problematic for people with social anxiety disorder," (Dittmann, 2005). Recent update of Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) stated that about 15 million American adults have social anxiety disorder. 36 percent of people with social anxiety disorder report symptoms for 10 or more years before seeking help. Furthermore, reported typical age of onset is 13 years old (ADAA, 2014) suggests that children and adolesce...
Today, many Americans today suffer from either social anxiety disorder (SAD) and/or depression. In general, people who suffer with either one of these disorders actually have both, as social anxiety and depression are closely linked together. Allegedly, if someone has social anxiety disorder or social phobia, and does not receive treatment, they have the tendency to develop depression. There is a major factor between the two disorders. A person suffering with SAD is unlikely to attending social situations out of fear that they will not be liked by others. Someone suffering with depression avoids social situations because they feel hopeless and no longer care about themselves. Typically, SAD leads to the onset of the
Social Anxiety Disorder was first recognized by the American Psychiatric Association as a disorder in 1980 (1). It is characterized by such physical symptoms as increased heartbeat, blushing, dry mouth, trembling and shaking, difficulty swallowing, and twitching in the muscles (2). Many people with social anxiety disorder also have depression. A study in France found that 70 percent of patients who developed social anxiety disorder before the age of 15 also suffered from major depression (3). Diagnostic criteria, according to the current definition of social anxiety disorder given by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, 4th ed. (DSM-IV), requires a persistent fear of at least one social situation which involves exposure to unfamiliar people or scrutiny by others. The patient must fear that he or she will act in this situation in a way that will cause embarrassment, and avoid the situation or experience extreme anxiety or a panic attack if faced with the situation. The patient must also realize that the fear is unreasonable. The avoidance or anxiety must interfere to a large extent with the normal routine, functioning, social activities, or relationships with the person (1).
I never really had social anxiety until last summer. Whenever we went shopping or anywhere where there were a lot of people, I would get kind of scared or stay really close to my mom. When I started high school, it was even worse. I had a hard time looking people in the face and when we were in big groups I would cower behind. I only talked to my close friends and I even had a hard time raising my hand or talking to my teachers.
Social anxiety is partially defined by the fear of social pressures, as well as the very essence of the act of conformity. Conformity shows compliance with what is socially acceptable. In order to avoid being judged by others, people comply to what is deemed as socially acceptable; those with social anxiety tend to act upon this out of intense fear (Chapman, 2006, para. 17).
There are many different perceptions about people with social anxiety. People who do have it are often seen by others as just being shy, aloof, constrained, unfriendly, uneasy, quiet, indifferent, or diffident. The people who are afflicted with social anxiety may be clouded by these perceptions as well, so they may fail to seek treatment. Because the problem is generally unheard of, they may think that they are the only ones who suffer from it. People who do seek treatment are misdiagnosed 90% of the time, often labeled as "personality disorder", "manic depressive", or "schizophrenic", among other things. This is because social anxiety is not well understood by the general public, or medical or health care professionals. They are not even sure of the real cause of it or what it stems from.
There is a fine line between anxiety and depression. A line that is often times blurred. Although there are differences between the two, they also share many similarities, which can lead to false diagnoses for patients. It only gets more complicated when both illnesses are present. For example, The National Institute of Mental Health (2009) did a study of anxiety disorders and found that 53.7% of people reported they also experienced major depression as a secondary condition. These researchers also stated that people who are severely depressed do become anxious. In order to have a better understanding of anxiety and depression one must first clearly define the two conditions, understand the causes, look at the symptoms involved, and review the different treatment options available.
Another environmental cause of anxiety can be our life experiences and upbringing. A person can develop anxiety by simply seeing how a relative may react to fear or stress when they were younger. People with social phobia may have developed it because of poor social interactions they had when
Many people feel apprehensive and miserable every now and then, but when does it take over their whole lives? Losing a loved one, doing poorly in school or work, being bullied and other hardships might lead a person to feel sad, lonely, scared, nervous and/or anxious. Some people experience this on an everyday basis, sometimes even or no reason at all. Those people might have an anxiety disorder, depression, or both. It is highly likely for someone with an anxiety disorder to also be suffering from depression, or the other way around. 50% of those diagnosed with depression are also diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.