Social anxiety Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Social anxiety - Research Paper Example People experiencing from social phobia are not afraid of fear, rather they are afraid of what people think about them and how people perceive them. This fear is mostly associated with the negative perception or the belief that people perceive negatively about the person being evaluated. Due to this fear, individuals believe that they are going to be negatively assessed by others, will not be acceptable by others, will be bullied and people might disapprove them. Due to these perceptions, an individual may face the problem of social anxiety. Individuals living in US aging between 18 and 54 are most commonly affected by this disorder, around 3.7% of the total population which accounts for 5.3 million Americans are said to be experiencing this disease (Kahn, 2001, p.51). Twice the number of women are said to be effected by this disorder as compared to men but higher number of men seek assistance to solve this issue (Kahn, 2001, p.51). Mostly an individual is affected by this disease dur ing childhood; individuals who cross the age of 25 have less chances of developing this disorder. Social anxiety is one of the top most common forms of disorders experienced by US. Body During the 1980s, social anxiety was realized as a mental disposition by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder; this realization took place much later than other forms of mental issues (Kearney, 2005, p.11). Heavy amount of research and study has not focused on this disease but quite a lot of physicians and researchers are working towards this social and mental problem. Researchers have been able to identify two forms of social phobia, though it is unclear whether both these problems are similar or distinct. The first kind of social phobia is one in which people are afraid of conducting one of the several forms of social actions such as speaking in front of the public and working or eating while around people. The second division of social phobia is recognized as generalized social phobia, people experiencing this form of social phobia are afraid of conducting all sorts of social activities (Kearney, 2005, p.12). Media has paid attention to social phobia and has stated that pharmaceutical companies are trying to sell medication that is used to solve the issue of shyness and they believe that shyness is not a medical condition (Gambrill, 2012, p.67). The issue of pharmaceutical companies operating in an unethical way to make profits should not be mixed with the issue of social phobia as everyday several individuals throughout the world along with US experience this metal disorder and are not able to complete their social obligations. An individual should not be labeled as someone who is experiencing any disease if they are going through emotional changes that are important for their life. But proper importance needs to be assigned to someone who is actually experiencing certain mental issues. Social phobia or social anxiety itself is a label given to those who are actually suffering from these issues and these labeling aids them in obtaining help from physicians and gain support from others who are experiencing the same challenge. Experiencing social anxiety is not a huge issue, thus others need to accept such people and provide support to them and people suffering from this disorder want to alter the way they are living their lives. It is a myth that socially anxious people do not prefer to be social or are against