Social Phobia
Psychology 201
Sec. 03
April 27, 2005

Social Phobia
Did you know that over 7% of the population suffers from social anxiety disorder (social phobia) right this very minute? Social Anxiety is the third largest mental health care problem in the world today. Social anxiety is the fear of social situations and the interactions with other people that can automatically bring on feelings of selfconsciousness, judgments, evaluation, and criticism. Social anxiety is the fear and anxiety of being judged and evaluated negatively by other people, leading to feelings of inadequacy, embarrassment, humiliation, and depression. Social anxiety disorder is a much more common problem.

People with social anxiety disorder do not believe that their anxiety is related to a medical or physical illness or disease. This type of anxiety occurs in most social situations, especially when the person feels on display or is the center of attention. The socially anxious person has extremely high anxiety when they are put into a position to make small talk to a stranger or interact in a group. The anxiety becomes worse when the person fears that they are going to be singled out. People with social anxiety find it to be a terrifying experience to interact with unfamiliar people, give any type of public presentation, or even be publicly noticed. In public places, such as work, meetings, or shopping, people with social anxiety feel that everyone is watching, staring, and judging them (even thought rationally they know this isn’t true). Instead of being a pleasant and happy experience it will cause great anticipatory fear and dread, because they will be on display in front of all those people and then they fear they will do something to make a fool of themselves. The socially anxious person can’t relax, “take it easy”, and enjoy themselves in public. In fact, they can never fully relax when other people are around. It always feels like others are evaluating them, being critical of them, or “judging” them in some way. The physiological manifestations that accompany social anxiety may include intense fear, racing heart, turning red or blushing, dry throat and mouth, trembling, swallowing with difficult, and muscle twitches.
The person with social anxiety knows that people don’t do this openly, but they still feel the self-consciousness and judged while they are in the other person’s presence. It’s sometimes impossible to let go, relax, and focus on anything else except the anxiety and fear. Because the anxiety is so very painful, it’s much easier just to stay away from social situations and avoid other people altogether. Many times people with social anxiety simply must be alone, closeted with the door closed behind them. Even when they’re around familiar people, a

person with social anxiety may feel overwhelmed and have the feeling that others are noticing their every movement and critiquing their every thought. They feel like they are being observed critically and that other people are making negative judgments about them.
One of the worst circumstances is meeting people who are authority figures. Especially people such as bosses and supervisors at work, but including almost anyone who is seen as being “better” than they are in some respect. People with social anxiety may get a lump in their throat and their facial muscles may freeze up when they meet this person. The anxiety level is very high and they’re so focused on not failing and giving themselves away that they don’t even remember what was said in the conversation. But later on, they are sure they must have said the wrong thing, because they always do. To the person with social anxiety, going to a job interview is pure torture. You know your excessive anxiety will give you away. You feel that you will look funny, and that you will be hesitant, maybe you will even blush, and you won’t be able to find the right words to answer the questions coherently.
Maybe this is the worst part of all. You know that going today would be the wrong thing to do, you have a feeling that you would mess your interview up. You just know it, you have this feeling, because it always happens. It is especially frustrating because you know you could do the job well if you could just get past this terrifying and intimidating interview.
Social anxiety being the third largest psychological problem in the United States today, affects 15 million Americans in any given year. Unlike some other psychological problems, social anxiety is not well understood by the general public or by medical and mental health care professionals, such as doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, social workers, and counselors. In fact people with social anxiety are misdiagnosed almost 90% of the time
(Richards, 1997-2004). People with social phobia go to get treatment labeled as

schizophrenic, manic-depressive, clinically depressed, panic disordered and personality disordered, when in doubt they are suffering from social anxiety. Because few socially anxious people have heard of their own problem, and have never seen it discussed on any media, such as television talk shows, they think they are the only ones in the whole world who have these terrible symptoms. Therefore, they keep quiet about themselves. It would be awful if everyone realized how much anxiety they experienced in daily life. Then what would people do to help them be more comfortable around them? Unfortunately, without some kind of education, knowledge, and appropriate treatment, social anxiety continues to wreak havoc throughout their lives. Adding to the dilemma, when a person with social anxiety finally gets up the nerve to seek help, the chances that they can find it are very slim.
Making the situation more difficult is that social anxiety does not come and go like some other physical and psychological problems. Their symptoms apply to most social events and functions in almost every area of life. As with all problems, everyone with social anxiety has slightly different secondary symptoms. Some people cannot write in public because they fear people are watching and their hand will shake. Others have severe anxiety about eating or drinking in the presence of other people. Some people with social anxiety feel that certain parts of their body (such as the face or neck) are particularly strange looking and vulnerable to being stared at. Socially anxious people share knowledge that their thoughts and fears are basically irrational. People with social anxiety know that others are really not critically judging or evaluating them all the time. They understand that people are not trying to embarrass or humiliate them. They realize that their thoughts and feelings are somewhat exaggerated and irrational. Despite this rational knowledge, they still continue to feel differently (Richards 1997, 2004).

Many therapeutic methods have been studied, but cognitive-behavioral therapy is the only modality that has been shown to work effectively. The treatment of social anxiety through cognitive-behavioral methods has the capacity to produce long-lasting, permanent relief from the anxiety-laden world of social anxiety. Social anxiety responds to relatively shortterm therapy, depending on the severity of the condition. There can be significant progress in just twelve individual sessions, although most people respond better with sixteen to twenty-four meetings. To overcome social anxiety, completion of a behavioral therapy group is also essential when people feel ready for this. What socially anxious people do not need are years and years of therapy or counseling. You cannot be counseled out of social phobia. Socially anxious people who are taught to analyze and ruminate over their problems usually make their social anxiety and fears much worse, which in turn leads to depression, which just reinforces the fact that they wont get better. There is a better life for all people with social anxiety. Without treatment, social anxiety is a torturous and horrible emotional problem, with treatment, it bark is worse than its bite. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is highly successful in the treatment of social anxiety. Cognitive-behavioral therapy has two components. The cognitive component helps people change thinking patterns that keep them from overcoming their fears. For example, a person with social phobia might be helped to overcome the belief that others are continually watching and harshly judging him or her. The behavioral component of cognitive-behavioral therapy seeks to change people’s reactions to anxiety-provoking situations. A key element of this component is exposure, in which people confront the things they fear. A person with social anxiety may be encouraged to spend time in feared social situations without giving in to the temptations to flee. In some cases the individual with social anxiety will be asked to

deliberately make what appear to be slight social blunders and observe other people’s reactions; if they are not as harsh as expected, the person’s social anxiety may begin to fade. The person is gradually exposed to the object or situation that is feared. At first, the exposure may be only through pictures or audiotapes. Later, if possible, the person actually confronts the feared objects or situation. Often the therapist will accompany him or her to provide support and guidance. To be effective, Cognitive-behavioral therapy must be directed at the person’s specific anxieties. An approach that is effective for a person with specific phobia. Cognitive-behavioral therapy generally lasts about 12 weeks. It may be conducted in a group, provided the people in the group have sufficiently similar problems.
Group therapy is particularly effective for people with social phobia. When you find a health care professional that you’re satisfied with, the two of you are working together as a team. Together you will be able to develop a plan to treat your social anxiety that may involve medications, cognitive-behavioral therapy or other talk therapy, or both, as appropriate. Reference
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