Social Anxiety Disorder: the Psychology of Disabling Shyness

In fact, social phobia can be similarly compared to a few other major mental disorders. For example, one diagnosed with paranoia avoids social situations and is overly concerned with the thoughts and opinions of others, fearing mainly that others are out to harm them. The same avoidant behaviors persist in social phobia, yet the phobic person fears embarrassment in front of others and realizes the problem as being their own, often longing to overcome their behavior and move on to experience a richer life. Avoidant personality disorder causes a person to avoid close contact with others, not because they fear embarrassment or what others think, but because they tell themselves, other people are generally not worth the effort. A panic disorder can be described as the symptoms of social anxiety experienced to the extreme; only one suffering from this disorder suddenly panics because they fear physical danger, not just embarrassment in front of others. To cope with the distress of social problems, its sufferers may sometimes turn to alcohol or drug abuse trying to lessen their nervousness. Ultimately, after years of struggling with such a persistent issue and because a lack of social life often causes low self-esteem and loneliness, severe or ongoing depression develops in many anxiety sufferers. The logic of this disorder is often very misunderstood. If a person wanted to have close relationships and a fulfilling social life, why aren’t they able to just get over it? Many who experience the symptoms of social anxiety feel weak and pathetic, thinking they should be able to overcome their own shyness. What then exactly causes this problem to develop in some, while others whose personality traits involve introversion and shyness are able to eventually come out of their shell and form close relationships with those around them? Genetics and neurobiology both play a part in the possible development of an anxiety problem, which should come as a relief to its sufferers to

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