Expert: Only half of people with social anxiety disorder seek treatment

A new book addresses a much-overlooked problem: social anxiety.

We all have social anxiety. The nervousness we may experience before giving a speech is another example. However, some people have more social anxiety than others, and limit their social interactions due to an extreme fear of embarrassment or humiliation.

Although such social anxiety is common in teenagers and adults, it is rarely diagnosed and treated.

In a new book titled Social Anxiety: Hidden Fear and Shame in Youth and Adults (2024, American Psychiatric Association Publishing), Thomas E. Brown, clinical professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the University of California, Riverside’s School of Medicine, explains how social anxiety can reduce friendships and lead to loneliness and depression.

The book presents 22 vignettes highlighting 11 adults and 11 adolescents with various forms of social anxiety and related conditions, such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD), depression, or autism.

“Social anxiety is a constant part of most people’s thinking about what other people will think of them,” says Brown. It’s like what my mother, father, partner, best friend, pastor or other people in the community would think of me if they knew certain things I’ve done or if they knew what I was thinking or wished to do. to do.

“Sometimes it has to do with specific fears about information that might be revealed. “Sometimes I worry about what my parents would have thought of my actions if they were still alive and knew about them.”

According to available data, in 2012 in the United States the lifetime prevalence of social anxiety between the ages of 13 and 17 is 11% for females and 6% for males. The lifetime prevalence among American adults between the ages of 18 and 64 is 11% for women and 14% for men.

“Social anxiety disorders are often underdiagnosed by doctors, psychologists and other mental health practitioners,” says Brown.

“Right now, there are a few people talking and writing about it. But there hasn’t been much empirical research on it. “In addition, many people never disclose their anxiety disorders to others in the community, including their doctors.”

Brown explains that according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a manual that serves as a guide for US and other health care professionals for diagnosing mental disorders, social anxiety affects people in ways that different: increased school dropout rates, increased unemployment, lower socioeconomic status, and increased chances of being single or divorced.

Brown says: “Despite these problems, only half of people with anxiety in the community have ever sought treatment for it.

“Many people are ashamed of having such fear. Typically, those who seek treatment for social anxiety only do so after 15 or 20 years of experiencing their symptoms. Some social anxiety is inherited. It can run in families. It can also be learned in an overprotective family.”

Brown adds that teenage girls who develop breasts earlier than their peers often feel self-conscious and worry about what people will think of them. For teenage boys, it’s a matter of height and when they have to undress in the dressing room.

He says: “Usually such anxiety prevents people from loving and being in love with each other. “For example, anxious college kids report having fewer relationships with people of the opposite sex. Some people have a lot of anxiety about their sexual performance. They think, ‘Can I make my sexual partner open? Am I attractive to them?’”

According to Brown, the fear associated with social anxiety is often unfounded.

“There are people who are very nervous and are quick to panic in any situation where there is at least some ambiguity,” he says. “Psychotherapy, intervention, and prescribed medication are other ways to reduce anxiety. of the nation.”

Brown adds, “I hope that readers of this book and their family members and friends who struggle with social anxiety will understand that they can get help right away instead of waiting 15 years.” or 20 before they seek help like most people do.”

Source: UC Riverside