Social Anxiety In Children

Social Anxiety in Children & TeensSocial anxiety disorder is a much more frequent problem than most people lead to believe. Millions of people suffer from this devastating and traumatic condition every day, either from a specific social anxiety or from a more generalized social anxiety. A specific social anxiety would be the fear of only speaking in front of groups, whereas people with generalized social anxiety are anxious, nervous, and uncomfortable in almost all social situations. Sadly, children and teens with social anxiety disorder have an excessive and persistent fear of social and/or performance situations such as school, athletic activities, and more. They are extremely worried that they may do something embarrassing, or others will

Social anxiety affects children and teens in their everyday lives, more specifically academics. “Regarding academic functioning, children with social anxiety often dislike school and about 10% refuse to attend school regularly” (Van Roy et al). This could lead to failing a grade, requiring special education before the age of nine or dropping out of high school. These events are among the childhood risk factors for social anxiety in adults. Social anxiety has also been associated with reduced verbal skills and communication disorders, indicating that the school arena may represent an increased challenge to more than social performance, at least for some of these children. Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent childhood mental illness in youth and are associated with impairment in multiple domains, including social, emotional, and family functioning. Moreover, social anxiety and being shy are two different things. Most young children who are more timid and fearful seem to have normal social behavior, although few become more outgoing and grow out of it. Shy children are cautious in new situations for a period of time; once the situations are familiar, these children are no different from their peers. Shyness is anxiety inhibition, nervousness, and/or anxiety about evaluation by others or it can be a combination of these in social and personal scenarios. Shyness is considered a normal part of a person’s personality that combines

So far, the characteristics of childhood social anxiety have only been addressed in clinical samples. These studies show that children with social anxiety suffer substantial distress in social, academic, emotional, and behavioural functioning. Self-reports reveal that the most feared social situations represent everyday activities, such as performance and conversational interactions. Children with social anxiety report having fewer friends and less participation in extracurricular activities. Social anxiety in adulthood is retrospectively associated with the experience of childhood bullying, and linked with peer victimisation in early adolescence.Due to the wide range social anxiety has, there are many studies shown on how to cope or deal with this affliction. Candice Watson was a scientist that made scientific contributions to the article, "Preliminary Study of Resilience-Based Group Therapy for Improving the Functioning of Anxious Children." while affiliated with The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. The study that she contributed to aims to look at the effectiveness of a resilience-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) group psychotherapy for improving the social skills in anxious children in a clinical setting. “The 90-min weekly intervention focused on teaching children CBT techniques such as self-monitoring their somatic reactions when feeling