Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)

What is it like having Social Anxiety Disorder? Well you know that feeling when you trip on the stairs and barely save yourself from falling down the rest of the steps? You know how your stomach lurches forward and you get a sinking feeling? It feels like that, but 10x worse. As quoted by Thomas A. Richards in his article 'What is Social Anxiety?' Social Anxiety is "the fear of interaction with other people that brings on self-consciousness, feelings of being negatively judged and evaluated, and, as a result, leads to avoidance." Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is one of the largest mental problems in the United States, it makes people hide inside themselves and leaves them thinking there is no hope of getting better. It is a scourge among our

in the time of Hippocrates. Hippocrates described someone with Social Anxiety as “He dare not come in company for fear he should be misused, disgraced, overshoot himself in gesture or speech or be sick; he thinks every man observes him.” From then on in the early 1900’s physiatrists used the term Social Anxiety and Social Neurosis as a label for extremely shy patients.

But what causes Social Anxiety Disorder? Well the exact cause of it has not been found but possible causes could be environment, brain structure and inherited traits. Some people can learn to get Social Anxiety; they can learn anxious behaviors from their peers and from their parents. If the parent of a person who suffers from S.A.D. was incredibly strict and uptight, the child might grow anxious and be afraid of making mistakes or disappointing their parent which soon leads to Social Anxiety Disorder. Brain Structure could be a cause of S.A.D because there is a part of our brain called the amygdala that controls our fear response and if people have an overactive amygdala they will have a higher fear response making them have increased anxiety problems in certain situations. Social Anxiety symptoms can also be inherited by your family, seeing as this CAN be

People who suffer from this disorder find it almost impossible to communicate with other people in their daily lives, sometimes it’s even a struggle to even want to get out of bed because they fear that they will be judged by every little thing they do. Some of the symptoms of Social Anxiety Disorder can be but are not limited to fear of situations in which you may be judged, worrying about embarrassing or humiliating yourself, concern that you'll offend someone, and intense fear of interacting or talking with strangers. Those are the psychological reasons; the physical symptoms can be very scary to experience. The physical symptoms can be but are not limited to fast heartbeat, upset stomach or nausea, trouble catching your breath, dizziness or lightheadedness. These symptoms are what can make Social Anxiety Disorder a living hell for