Your heatl is racing, your muscles are tightening, and the room is closing in around you? You back up slowly, and try to make a
hasty retreat This is what it is like for people who are suffenng from social anxiety disorder Anxiety is defined as a state or cause of
uneasiness and apprehension, worry, or intense fear resulting from the anticipation of a threatening event. Anxiety often causes a
person to feel agitated and anxious Many people are faced With social phobias such as nervousness dunng an interview, giving
speeches or seeing their highschool sweetheart for the first time in twenty years These illustrations seem small to the average
individual, but to a social phobic person, these events can seem like life or death Panic attacks are distinct episodes of acute fear
People who expenence these attacks descnbe them as a suddenly overwhelming feeling of doom, as if they are gong to die on the
spot They have problems breathing and they may even hyperventilate.
Research by Dr Zal (2003) reveals that social anxiety disorder is the third most common mental health problem in the United
States (Zal, 75) According to Dewan (2001), this life long disorder affects more that ten million Amencans, men and women
equally (Dewan, p 1795) Dr Zal also found that this disorder affects children starting between the ages of fourteen and sixteen (Zal,
p 75) He also ascertained that only a small proportion (5 4%) of individuals With uncomplicated social anxiety disorder seek
psychiatnc help (Zal, p 75) These individuals are two times more likely to have alcohol problems, and if they have an alcohol
problem are nine times more likely to exhibit social anxiety disorder symptoms (Zal, p 76) Dr Zal's findings also revealed that
suicide attempt rate is 1% for primary social anxiety disorder, With an increase to 16% for comorbid social anxiety disorder (Zal,
p 75) Comorbid social anxiety disorder occurs when another disorder worsens or Increases the symptoms of the social anxiety
disorder Dr Zal's findings suggest that in 70% to of social anxiety disorder cases patients show comorbid conditions, such as
37% have depression, 23 9% have alcohol dependence, 14 8% have drug dependence, 23 3% have agoraphobia, and 15 8%
have posttraumatic stress disorder (Zal, p 76) The statistics clearly show that this disorder opens the doorway for other
incapacitating disorders, that destroys a person's ability to interact With society.
Social anxiety disorder is significant in our sociological world because it has a direct correlation With the way its sufferers feel
society Views them We know that social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia, results from an acute fear of scrutiny from
other people This relates to the symbolic-interaction paradigm, which sees society as the product of everyday interactions of
individuals Throughout our lives, from childhood to adulthood, we try to live by the norms of our society avoid social marginality, but
With the growing cases of social phobia we are seeing more and more people pull away from society These people may end up
depresses, suicidal, or suffer from other disorders such as alcoholism, resulting in their social and economic burden on our society
The added pressures of seeing individuality in social context, along With the expectations to confirm to our "in" groups, succeed in
school, and achieve occupational prestige could have a potentially overwhelming effect As it stands now, we know that social
phobia is the third most common psychiatric disorder and it seems to be growing continuously.
Most people in the United States With social anxiety disorder (SAD) do not get mental healthcare for illness Several studies have
examined associations between socio-demographic charactensücs and the treatment of health problems (Olfson, Guardino,
Struening, & Schneier, 2000) People that did not get treatment were younger, less eduacated, and less likely to be white A
problem in living is a person-environment transaction that blocks an individual expenence of satisfactory social functioning Social
anxiety is usually thought to have genetic and biological causes adolescents and young adult consumer of medication may not
develop motivation to make behavioral changes for combating their anxiety Adolescents usually turn to drugs to help their problems
People With social phobia usually have a low self-esteem and depression Some people have other anxiety disorders such as panic
disorder Almost one in four people With social anxiety have had thoughts of committing suicide SAD is more common in females,
people With low educational attainment, people With a lack of social supports, and people With a lack of social supports, and people
who use psychiatnc medications
One of the most common differences of opinion expenenced conceming social anxiety is that people onen discount the mental
illness social anxiety disorder simply as extreme shyness In fact, social anxiety disorder has been called "the neglected anxiety
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