Social anxiety disorder

Social anxiety disorder may be easily misdiagnosed or even be mistaken as a form of shyness. Having said that, many sufferers of social anxiety are not even aware that they are experiencing an anxiety disorder. Approximately seven percent of the population suffers from social anxiety. Recent years have shown progress in treating this type of disorder.
Social anxiety can be defined as fear of social occasions and situations and the interaction with people due to feelings of negative evaluation, inadequacy, embarrassment, humiliation and self-consciousness. This form of phobia provoked by the social situations exceeds the ordinary shyness when it ultimately leads to complete or excessive social avoidance and invariably causing substantial social impairment. People with this disorder are often the world’s loners.

The physical symptoms of social anxiety disorder are associated with two or more of the signs that are caused by persistent fear or worry, negative feeling of embarrassment and humiliation such as restlessness, feeling of fatigue, trembling and sweaty palms, lack of focus, muscle tension or sleep disturbance. There is a high possibility when you experience irritability, shortness of breath and intense anxiety and worry that suggest that you are suffering from a social anxiety disorder. Social anxiety symptoms closely resemble ordinary shyness but they can be differentiated in terms of the intensity and extreme experience of anxiety and tension.

In the early stages of the disorder, it is critical to receive the appropriate medical intervention by drug-based medication or non-drug based methods or combination of both. Alternative medicines have also recently grown in popularity, of which therapy is often used widely for healing social anxiety. There are no clear guidelines on the best course of treatment. It may take several attempts and method or prescription changes to find the one that works for you.