Mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

professionals often distinguish between generalized

social phobia Social anxiety disorder (SAD), also known as social phobia, is an anxiety disorder characterized by sentiments of fear and anxiety in social situations, causing considerable distress and impairing ability to function in at least some as ...

and specific social phobia. People with generalized social phobia have great distress in a wide range of social situations. Those with specific social phobia may experience anxiety only in a few situations.Crozier, W. Ray; Alden, Lynn E. ''International Handbook of Social Anxiety: Concepts, Research, and Interventions Relating to the Self and Shyness''. New York John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. (UK), 2001. . The term "specific social phobia" may also refer to specific forms of non-clinical

social anxiety Social anxiety is the anxiety and fear specifically linked to being in social settings (i.e., interacting with others). Some categories of disorders associated with social anxiety include anxiety disorders, mood disorders, autism spectrum dis ...

. The most common specific social phobia are glossophobia (the fear of public speaking) and stage fright (the fear of performance). Others include fears of intimacy or sexual encounters, using public restrooms (

paruresis Paruresis, also known as shy bladder syndrome, is a type of phobia in which a person is unable to urination, urinate in the real or imaginary presence of others, such as in a public restroom. The analogous condition that affects bowel movement i ...

), attending social gatherings, using telephones, and dealing with

authority Authority is commonly understood as the legitimate power of a person or group of other people. In a civil state, ''authority'' may be practiced by legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government,''The New Fontana Dictionary of M ...

figures. Specific social phobia may be classified into performance fears and interaction fears, i.e., fears of acting in a social setting and interacting with other people, respectively. The cause of social phobia is not definite. Symptoms of social phobia can occur in late

adolescence Adolescence () is a transitional stage of human Developmental biology, physical and psychological Human development (biology), development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age o ...

when youths highly value the impressions they give off to their peers. Clinical experience of the prognosis of social phobia shows that it can prolong for many years but that it improves by mid life.

Treatment

Treatment of social phobia usually involves psychotherapy, medication, or both.

Psychotherapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy that aims to reduce symptoms of various mental health conditions, primarily depression, PTSD, and anxiety disorders. Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on challenging and chang ...

(CBT) is commonly used to treat social phobia. CBT uses various techniques in order to improve the individual (diagnosed with social phobia), ways of thinking, behaving and coping in social situations that lead the individual to distress. CBT aims to make improvement in the individual's distress, fear, and anxiety through a social focus and environment. CBT is typically done through individual sessions, but group sessions have been completed through CBT.

Medication

Anti-anxiety and

antidepressant Antidepressants are a class of medications used to treat major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, chronic pain, and addiction. Common side effects of antidepressants include Xerostomia, dry mouth, weight gain, dizziness, headaches, akathi ...

medication is commonly prescribed for treatment of social anxiety disorder. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as sertraline, fluvoxamine and paroxetine are common anti depressants used for treatment of social anxiety disorder. Studies show that these SSRI's do have positive effects in comparison to placebo trials, however not all individuals were effected in the same magnitude or found similar comfort. These SSRI's have improved results after 12 weeks of use, when compared to the placebo. The MAOI Nardil (phenelzine sulfate) works extremely well in treating social phobia and is often referred to as the "gold standard" for social phobia due to its unique mechanism on increasing GABA. Patients who have avoided certain situations should make a big effort to become exposed to these situations while at the same time taking antidepressant medication. Anxiolytic medication aids a patient to handle social or professional situations before more lasting treatment has had an effect and therefore it is a provider of short term relief, but anxiolytics have a risk of dependence. Beta-adrenergic antagonists help to control palpitations and tremors unresponsive to the treatment of anxiolytic medication. One must read the precautions of these drugs outlined in the manufacturer's literature and be careful to watch out for the contraindications of these drugs.

Prevalence

In the past, when the prevalence was estimated by sampling the psychiatric clinical cases, social phobia was thought to be a rare disorder. It is now recognized that this way of estimating is inappropriate, because people with social phobia rarely seek psychiatric help by the very nature of their disorder. A more reliable source used now is community surveys. Various surveys show that the syndrome of glossophobia is the most prevalent type. An article based on a National Comorbidity Survey reported that 1/3 of people with lifetime social phobia had glossophobia Another survey of a community sample from a Canadian city reported that of people who believed being anxious in one or several social situations 55% feared speaking to a large audience, 25% feared speaking to a small group of familiar people, 23% feared dealing with authority, 14.5% feared social gatherings, 14% feared speaking to strangers, 7% feared eating and 5% feared writing in public.A survey by Dan Stein et al., as described in: Carlos Blanco, Carolina Garcia, Michael R. Liebowitz, "Epidemiology of Social Anxiety Disorder", in: Dan J. Stein, Borwin Bandelow (Eds.) "Social Anxiety Disorder",
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References

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