Define social anxiety disorder (social phobia), noting the typical life stage of onset, and explain how it differs from "normal" shyness. Using examples, describe how social anxiety disorder (SAD) impairs functioning. What types of treatments are effective for SAD?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Sample Answer: People, who suffer severely around others, have social anxiety disorder (social phobia) , also called social anxiety disorder (SAD). SAD is more than exaggerated shyness. The most common type of performance anxiety, to which most people can relate, is public speaking. Other situations that commonly provoke performance anxiety are eating in a restaurant or signing a paper in front of a clerk. Anxiety-provoking physical reactions include blushing, sweating, trembling, or, for males, urinating in a public restroom.What these examples have in common is that the individual is very anxious only while others are present and may be watching and, to some extent, evaluating their behavior. This is truly SAD because the people have no difficulty eating, writing, or urinating in private. Only when others are watching does the behavior deteriorate.It seems we are prepared to fear angry, critical, or rejecting people. Research has noted that we learn more quickly to fear angry expressions than other facial expressions, and this fear diminishes more slowly than other types of learning.Effective treatments have been developed for social phobia only in the past several years. A cognitive-behavioral group therapy (CBGT) program has been developed in which groups of patients rehearse or role-play their socially phobic situations in front of one another. At the same time, the therapist conducts rather intensive cognitive therapy aimed at uncovering and changing the automatic or unconscious perceptions of danger that the socially phobic client assumes to exist. Effective drug treatments have been discovered as well. Tricyclic antidepressants, particularly monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors, have been found to be more effective than placebo in the treatment of severe social anxiety. The evidence is mixed on the usefulness of combining SSRIs or related drugs with psychological treatments.