FREE ESSAY ON SOCIAL PHOBIAS

SOCIAL PHOBIAS

Jenny BishopSeptember 3, 1998Social Phobias Everyone is afraid of something. Everyone
experiences nervousness, anxiety and even in superior feelings around certain people.
Some people possess these feelings so deeply that their fear is considered irrational.
Even they realize that it is irrational and that they have a phobia. Millions of people
suffer from phobias every day of their lives. The third largest psychological disorder in
the United States is what psychologists have labelled a social phobia. A social phobia is
the fear of social situations and the interactions with other people that can
automatically bring on feelings of self-consciousness, judgement, evaluation, and
scrutiny. They cannot overcome a social phobia without the patient first grasping exactly
what triggers their fears, and then learning how to receive proper help. A social anxiety
disorder or social phobia is the constant fear of being criticized or evaluated by other
people. People with a social phobia are nervous, anxious, and afraid about many social
situations. Simply attending a business meeting or going to a company party can be highly
nerve wracking and intimidating. Although people with social anxiety want very much to be
social with everyone else, their anxiety about not doing well in public is strong and
hinders their best efforts. They freeze up when they meet new people, especially
authority figures. They are particularly afraid that other people will notice that they
are anxious, so this fear enables the anxiety to grow and turn into a vicious cycle. One
example, a woman hates to stand in the grocery store because she is afraid that everyone
is watching her. She knows that it is not really true, but she cannot shake the feeling.
While she is shopping, she is conscious of the fact that people might be staring at her
from the big mirrors on the inside front of the ceiling. Now, she has to talk to the
person who is checking out the groceries. She tries to smile, but her voice comes out
weakly. She is sure she is making a fool of herself. Her self-consciousness and anxiety
rise to extremes. Many symptoms go hand in hand with this terrible phobia. The feelings
that accompany a social phobia include anxiety, intense fear, negative thinking cycles,
racing heart, blushing and trembling. In public places, such as work, meetings, or
shopping, people with a social phobia feel that everyone is staring at them (even though,
rationally, they know this is not true.)The socially anxious person can never relax when
other people are around. It always seems as others are evaluating them, judging them, or
being critical of them, so in turn, resisting social situations is much easier for the
sufferer. Some specific symptoms are those people, for example, who cannot write in
public because they fear people are watching and their hand will shake. Others are too
overly introverted, and they find it too difficult to hold down a job. Some cannot eat in
public or freeze when they step into a public situation. The suffered tries to avoid
introductions to new people, being the focal point, or being observed while doing
something, because it triggers their uncomfortable nature. Once the patient understands
the sickness, they can make measures to help maintain these horrible feelings and
overcome the sickness. When the phobias interfere with a person's life, treatment can
help. Because few socially-anxious people have heard of their own problem, and have never
seen it discussed on any of the television talk shows, they think they are the only ones
who have these terrible symptoms. Therefore, they keep quiet about them. It would be too
horrific if everyone realized how much anxiety they experienced in daily life.
Unfortunately, without some kind of education, knowledge and treatment, social anxiety
continues to wreck havoc throughout their lives. Adding to the dilemma, when a person
with a social phobia gets up the nerve to seek help, the chances that they can find it
are very slim. In fact, Psychiatrists have misdiagnosed people with a social phobia
almost 98% of the time. People with a diagnosable DSM-IV social phobia have been
mislabeled schizophrenic, manic-depressive, clinically depressed, panic disordered, and
personally disordered, among many other misdiagnoses. Successful treatment usually
involves a kind of cognitive-behavioral therapy called desensitization or exposure
therapy, where psychologists gradually expose patients to what frightens them until the
fear begins to fade. This treatment provides methods, techniques, and strategies that all
combine to lessen anxiety and make the world a much more enjoyable place. Therapy may
involve learning to view social events differently, and exercises on relaxation and
breathing also to help reduce anxiety symptoms. Three-fourths of the patients benefit
significantly from this type of treatment. A social phobia responds to a relatively
short-term therapy, like twelve to twenty meetings, depending on the severity of the
condition. Socially-anxious people do not need years and years of therapy. Consequently,
psychiatrists who teach people to analyze and ruminate over their problem's usually make
their social anxiety's worse. Currently, no proven drug treatment for specific phobias
has yet been found, but sometimes Psychiatrists may prescribe certain medications to help
reduce anxiety symptoms before someone faces a phobic situation. Scientists have proven
some medications effective when used with cognitve-behavioral therapy, about 80%
effective. One medication includes antidepressants called MAO inhibitors. Drugs called
beta-blockers have helped people with specific form of a social phobia called a
performance phobia. Klonopin is another kind of drug, and it helps calm the patient down
enough to undergo treatment. Without treatment, a social phobia is a torturous emotional
problem; with treatment, its bark is worse than its bite. Once the patient realizes that
they have a phobia, treatment can substantially reduce their problems. Treatment may be
found from any specialist who understands this problem and knows how to treat it. Getting
over social anxiety is not an easy task, yet many thousands have already done it. Life is
just one gut-wrenching anxiety problem after another, says Ph.D. Thomas Richards.
However, the patient can quench this in a short period of time-but a cognitive-behavioral
therapist who understands and specializes 8in the treatment of social anxiety.