Social Anxiety is.........................

[Energizer_Bunny]

Social anxiety disorder is a common psychiatric illness that imposes persistent functional impairment and disability on persons who have the disorder. The disorder is characterized by a marked and persistent fear of social or performance situations in which embarrassment may occur. It is the most prevalent of any anxiety disorders and is the third most common psychiatric disorder after depression and alcohol abuse. Social anxiety disorder typically begins during childhood with a mean age at onset between 14 and 16 years and is sometimes preceded by a history of social inhibition or shyness. Persons who have social anxiety disorder either endure or avoid social situations altogether because the fear of embarrassment causes such intense anxiety; such avoidance may ultimately interfere with occupational and/or social functioning and lead to significant disability. The duration of social anxiety disorder is frequently lifelong, and there is a high degree of comorbidity with other psychiatric disorders. Social anxiety disorder is a serious illness that frequently runs a chronic course and is associated with significant morbidity. Patients should be treated aggressively using pharmacotherapeutic agents that can be tolerated over the long term. Cognitive-behavioral therapy should also be considered in treatment planning. Efforts to increase the recognition of social anxiety disorder as a common, distressing, and disabling condition are critical.


Taken from:
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 2001;62 Suppl 12:24-9
Comorbidity, Neurobiology, and Pharmacotherapy of Social Anxiety Disorder.
Pollack MH, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston 02114

[matewzin]

Social anxiety disorder is characterized by a persistent fear of any kind of social interactions and the feeling of intense embarrassment or humiliation, apparently without reason. The patients of this disorder are always anxious of being judged poorly by others and as a result start avoiding social interaction completely. Whenever such people face any situation where interaction with others cannot be avoided, they suffer extreme anxiety and nervousness.

[quallagirl]

This definately describes me.

Tonya

[Mincan]

Ah, I don't know whether I should post here or not, as I might be judged... but yea it sucks its like your whole day is about other people around you and you don't even live your life.

[daveddd]

its been recently tossed around that SA is caused by low levels of dopamine , (sound familiar) I found when i figured out my perfect dose of adhd meds my SA disapeared and not in a becauce im kinda buzzed way like xanax did

i was ,crazily enough dx adhd when i was on my fifth doc for figured out my anxiety (hyperactive) and SA

always knew iwas off just never looked at adhd thought it was for little kids

[CrashBandicoot]

yeah thats why adhd meds also work for social anxiety. tho for anxiety, they have to be accompanies by a NDMA antagonist like memantine to avoid tolerance.

[Crazygirl79]

Is something that can really hinder one's quality of life in the social sense if not address appropriately...

Selena

[Sapphire11]

social anxiety is painfully distructive on your self esteem it eats away all that you are

I know social anxiety very well