What is Social Anxiety Disorder?
Bonnie is a 15year old girl who suffers from anxiety which sometimes leads to panic attacks. Her anxiety issues lead to nervousness and fear of interacting with people everywhere she goes.
Bonnie might be suffering from a disease known as Social Anxiety Disorder. Individuals suffering from social anxiety disorder are afraid of socializing and performance circumstances in which they may be judged by others. They are terrified that whatever they do or say will cause them to be humiliated or embarrassed. These individuals are incapable of dealing with common events such as initiating casual chats or simply eating in open places. Individuals suffering from social anxiety disorder exhibit a mix of physiological and cognitive signs (Leichsenring & Leweke, 2017). Shaking, sweating, uneasiness, and stuttering when speaking are some of the physiological signs. These signs drive the individual to become increasingly self-conscious since they assume others have observed, resulting in a profound feeling of shame and disgrace for the individual. Characteristics such as avoidance of circumstances where they would have to talk and trying to avoid eye connection can be extremely stressful for the individual, and they may struggle to cope with everyday activities (Leichsenring & Leweke, 2017).
In this case, Bonnie gets nervous whenever she comes in contact with unknown people. She even avoids phone calls because she has to interact with people on the other side of the phone. The idea of these situations gives her panic attacks. Individuals with social anxiety disorder experience such severe terror in social environments that they believe it is beneath their grasp. For other individuals, this dread may prevent them from traveling to places, going to shops and eateries, or performing daily tasks (Mohammadi et al., 2020). Other individuals may be capable to perform these tasks, but they do it with a significant lot of worry or stress. Individuals suffering from social anxiety disorder might stress about social settings for days before they occur. Occasionally they conclude themselves ignoring locations or activities that bring them grief or humiliation. Social anxiety disorder typically begins in late infancy and might manifest as severe timidity or rejection of circumstances or interpersonal contacts (Cremers & Roelofs, 2016). It affects girls more commonly than males, and the gender disparity is especially prominent in teenagers and younger people. Social anxiety disorder appears to exist in families, but nobody understands why certain people in the family have it and others do not. Investigators discovered that stress and anxiousness are caused by numerous sections of the nervous system and that heredity determines how these sections work (Cremers & Roelofs, 2016).
One of the primary theories concerning social anxiety contends that it is caused by an overestimation of the unfavorable elements of social contacts and an underestimation of the good (Washburn et al., 2016). People who suffer from social anxiety prefer to exaggerate the dangers of social contacts, the chances of poor outcomes, and the repercussions of unfavorable events. People who suffer from social anxiety frequently misunderstand their abilities to manage interpersonal encounters. One prominent therapy for social anxiety focuses on these thought processes while also encouraging people with social anxiety to experience participating in interpersonal encounters. According to one idea concerning social anxiety, sequences of opinions and perspectives serve a key part in it and addressing these ideas and concepts can be a beneficial method to cure it. These thought processes tend to cause people to reject interpersonal contacts (Norton & Abbott, 2016). People suffering from social anxiety, as per cognitive theory, are more likely to:
- In social circumstances, misjudge the amount of danger.
- Encounters in social settings are likely to have bad results.
- Experience higher ramifications of these bad events.
- Social encounters are frequently ignored as a result of these ideas and assumptions. When persons with societal anxieties engage with others, they are more concerned with how they are seen by others (Norton & Abbott, 2016).
Symptoms of Social Anxiety Disorder
Another theory that is associated with an anxiety disorder is the theory of intolerance of uncertainty. Anxiety, according to this theory, is an attempt to eliminate sensations of uncertainty (Counsell et al., 2017). If someone is concerned about being late for an event, they will depart considerably sooner than required to ensure that they get on early. Because it is the unpredictability of events rather than any single component of them that causes people to stress, their worries will shift throughout the day. The purpose of behavioral theory throughout the period is to progress from little to bigger events, spanning many contexts (job, family, societal contexts), and to notice that in most uncertain circumstances, the result is bearable and that when it is not, it can be handled (Counsell et al., 2017).
For these two theories discussed above, social anxiety disorder is usually handled with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), a type of therapy developed in the 1960s to manage depressive episodes (Gregory & Peters, 2017). It is currently a popular therapy for a variety of ailments, particularly anxiety disorders. CBT has been found in studies to be a beneficial treatment for social anxiety disorder. Cognitive-behavioral therapy, a kind of counseling validated by science, is often employed to cure social anxiety disorder. CBT offers individuals various patterns of understanding, responding, and dealing with circumstances to make them experience the least nervous and scared. CBT can also help patients develop and practise communication skills, which is important in treating social anxiety disorder. Cognitive-behavioral therapy has been extensively researched and is considered the ultimate benchmark in counseling (Gregory & Peters, 2017). One of the primary aims of CBT is to uncover and substitute illogical ideas and cognitive processes with more reasonable ones. Bonnie’s feelings, ideas, and behaviors are all intertwined. She can improve her feelings and behavior by recognizing problematic beliefs. Individuals suffering from social anxiety disorder have unpleasant perceptions that come spontaneously and are out of sync with facts. These ideas heighten the worry and reduce the capacity to control (Olthuis et al., 2016). In this scenario, because Bonnie is afraid of social interaction, just contemplating the issue causes her to feel embarrassed and fearful of failing. CBT aims to rectify these conceptual biases with more accurate perspectives. Since her brain has grown programmed to think adversely, she must slowly teach it to think otherwise. Bonnie can experience less apprehension in social environments if she learns to modify her ideas. Long-term change of negative reflexive thoughts involves effort and recurrence until it gets instinctive and regular (Olthuis et al., 2016).
Another theory that can help Bonnie with a social anxiety disorder is exposure therapy. Exposure therapy is a CBT technique that concentrates on gradually tackling the concerns that underpin an anxiety disorder in an attempt to enable people to participate in tasks that they have been ignoring (Chesham et al., 2018). Exposure therapy is occasionally used in conjunction with relaxing exercises. Even though exposure therapy is usually done with the help of a psychotherapist, it may also be done in the everyday life. Avoiding circumstances in a flurry instructs people that they should be dreaded. Preferably, one should progressively expose themselves to increased uncomfortable circumstances and remain in such settings until their anxiety fades (Feng et al., 2018). This form of exposure therapy may be carried out in the outer world or the thoughts. Exposure therapy helps to overcome the fear of eating in public places and the fear of using restrooms in public places. Individuals suffering from social anxiety disorder frequently experience anxiety in a variety of social circumstances, ranging from speaking to a shopkeeper to visiting a huge ceremonial event (Whiteside et al., 2016). Exposure treatment for interpersonal anxiety might include a structure that includes these and any additional scenarios that trigger people’s worry. Those suffering from social anxiety disorder frequently have crippling anxiety about being the focus of attraction. Public speaking anxiety is prevalent. When thrown into the limelight, people may flush or shiver, or they may rapidly try to shift the subject if the subject comes to them. Exposure treatment can assist with anxiety issues that aren’t so acute that it keeps people homebound or causes them to have panic attacks in most socializing or performing circumstances (Feng et al., 2018). Although proof demonstrates that when administered appropriately, exposure treatment is beneficial, safe, acceptable, and poses low harm, there are distinct ethical issues in exposure therapy, particularly with children. Establishing ethical guidelines for adolescent exposure psychotherapy is a critical and timely field that may aid in the successful spread of these ideas (Gola et al., 2016).
Causes of Social Anxiety Disorder
Among the two theories discussed earlier, I prefer the cognitive theory of social anxiety disorder because the approach of the therapy in this theory people assess and alter their own unfavorable social interaction attitudes and assumptions.
- The two agencies where Bonnie could be referred for further assistance are:
In Australia, Headspace is the National Youth Mental Health Foundation. They started in 2006 and have been providing early treatment psychological health therapy to people aged 12 to 25 since then (headspace.org.au, 2022). They provide psychological health, physical wellbeing, alcoholism, and other substance therapies, as well as job and school assistance to younger generations. They engage with younger adults to assist at a critical moment in their life – to assist them in getting back on the right path and increase their abilities to handle their psychological well-being in the long term. The agency strives to fulfill the changing and distinctive requirements of younger adults and those who assist them in all they do (headspace.org.au, 2022).
Kids Helpline is Australia’s first free (even from a cellular device), confidential 24-hour digital and telephonic therapy program for children aged 5 to 25 (kidshelpline.com.au, 2022). Kids Helpline’s trained therapists are accessible at any moment and for any cause by WebChat, telephone, or email. Since 1991, Australia’s children and youth have turned to their trained, qualified therapists, regardless of who they are, where they reside, or what they wish to speak on. The agency strives to keep all adolescents, teenagers, and vulnerable adults protected, appreciated, and nourished for them to fulfill their greatest development in society. On all occasions, children and teenagers are protected and motivated to speak up, seek fairness, and receive therapy and other social services (kidshelpline.com.au, 2022).
Among these two agencies, Headspace would be more convenient in treating Bonnie, because this agency serves people directly at their institution. Therapy for anxiety often needs physical appointments to talk to therapists. Often children or adults feel more assisted while talking to someone in front of them. Moreover, this agency offers confidential services to people (headspace.org.au, 2022).
Teachers must ensure that participants in the research are not upset. They should be protected from both physiological and mental harm. This means they must not demean, frighten, offend, or hurt clients in any manner. If sensitive populations (in this case, children) are to be employed, the teacher must also guarantee that they get special attention. Bonnie, for example, is a learning student, thus they must Keep their engagement brief since they are easily weary and have a limited focus ability. Teachers are not usually able to properly estimate the risks of engaging in an experiment, and if Bonnie becomes concerned throughout the session, a psychological reflection may be necessary (Bolton, 2017).
Until there are no other choices, the teacher must resist misrepresenting Bonnie about the goal of the counselling – but again, a professional must endorse this. Nonetheless, some types of inquiry cannot be carried out without an amount of deception (Barnett, 2019). This is occasionally required to prevent confounding variables. Respondents, on the other side, must be as truthful as possible, and any disinformation must not cause distress. Researchers can assess whether people are going to be disturbed when deception is discovered by questioning socially suitable individuals. Providing a nonjudgmental quality solution that is devoid of prejudices and respects the patient’s uniqueness is mandatory for people suffering from social anxiety disorder (theaca.net.au, 2019).
References
Barnett, J. E. (2019). The ethical practice of psychotherapy: Clearly within our reach. Psychotherapy, 56(4), 431.
Bolton, J. (2017). The Ethical Issues which must be addressed in online counselling. Australian Counselling Research Journal, 11(1), 1-15.
Chesham, R. K., Malouff, J. M., & Schutte, N. S. (2018). Meta-analysis of the efficacy of virtual reality exposure therapy for social anxiety. Behaviour Change, 35(3), 152-166.
Counsell, A., Furtado, M., Iorio, C., Anand, L., Canzonieri, A., Fine, A., … & Katzman, M. A. (2017). Intolerance of uncertainty, social anxiety, and generalized anxiety: Differences by diagnosis and symptoms. Psychiatry research, 252, 63-69.
Cremers, H. R., & Roelofs, K. (2016). Social anxiety disorder: a critical overview of neurocognitive research. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 7(4), 218-232.
Feng, C., Cao, J., Li, Y., Wu, H., & Mobbs, D. (2018). The pursuit of social acceptance: aberrant conformity in social anxiety disorder. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 13(8), 809-817.
Gola, J. A., Beidas, R. S., Antinoro-Burke, D., Kratz, H. E., & Fingerhut, R. (2016). Ethical considerations in exposure therapy with children. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 23(2), 184-193.
Gregory, B., & Peters, L. (2017). Changes in the self during cognitive behavioural therapy for social anxiety disorder: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 52, 1-18.
headspace.org.au. (2022). Our services | headspace. Headspace.org.au.
headspace.org.au. (2022). Who we are | headspace. Headspace.org.au.
kidshelpline.com.au. (2022). About KHL. Kids Helpline.
Leichsenring, F., & Leweke, F. (2017). Social anxiety disorder. New England Journal of Medicine, 376(23), 2255-2264.
Mohammadi, M. R., Salehi, M., Khaleghi, A., Hooshyari, Z., Mostafavi, S. A., Ahmadi, N., … & Amanat, M. (2020). Social anxiety disorder among children and adolescents: A nationwide survey of prevalence, socio-demographic characteristics, risk factors and co-morbidities. Journal of affective disorders, 263, 450-457.
Norton, A. R., & Abbott, M. J. (2016). Self-focused cognition in social anxiety: A review of the theoretical and empirical literature. Behaviour Change, 33(1), 44-64.
Olthuis, J. V., Watt, M. C., Bailey, K., Hayden, J. A., & Stewart, S. H. (2016). Therapist?supported Internet cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety disorders in adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (3).
theaca.net.au. (2019). Code Of Ethics and Practice of the Australian Counselling Association. Theaca.net.au.
Washburn, D., Wilson, G., Roes, M., Rnic, K., & Harkness, K. L. (2016). Theory of mind in social anxiety disorder, depression, and comorbid conditions. Journal of anxiety disorders, 37, 71-77.
Whiteside, S. P., Deacon, B. J., Benito, K., & Stewart, E. (2016). Factors associated with practitioners’ use of exposure therapy for childhood anxiety disorders. Journal of anxiety disorders, 40, 29-36.
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