Most of us hardly notice about the symptoms of social anxiety disorder.

Do you ever notice

anyone by your side often come out with physical symptoms such as excessive blushing, excess
sweating, trembling and nausea when they are inside some characterised situation? How do they
cope with such situation? Do they use drugs or alcohols to reduce the symptoms?
According to my father, my uncle is a social anxiety disorder patient. My uncle is the
youngest child of the family, having 12 years gap with his elder sibling. He grows up alone due to
schooling siblings and working parents who makes him feel unsecured to be in crowd. He refuses to
go to school after being laughed by classmates due to excessive blushing talking to teachers and
classmates. After graduation from secondary school, working in a stressful environment does not
help him but makes him even more lack in self-confidence. He uses alcohol to reduce his fears and
inhibitions at social events. After all, he has been diagnosed as social anxiety disorder patient.
It is important for us to know social anxiety disorder. It is the most common psychiatric
disorders, with everyone around us has chance of experienced it. Sufferers may use drugs or
alcohols to reduce fear or panic attacks, which can be known as self-medicate in this fashion. If they
are undiagnosed, untreated, or both; this can lead to alcoholism, eating disorders or other kinds of
substance abuse. Now, let us look at the triggers of social anxiety disorder, which are social
experiences, cultural influences and psychological factors.
Firstly, negative social experiences which is the most common cause for social anxiety
disorder.
Negative social experiences are specific humiliating social events occurred in life and long
term effects of being bullied. A previous negative social experience can be a trigger to social
phobia. Social anxiety disorder patients are mostly high in 'interpersonal sensitivity'. For around
half of those diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, a specific traumatic or humiliating social event
appears to be associated with the onset or worsening of the disorder; this kind of event appears to be
particularly related to specific social phobia, for example regarding public speaking.
As well as direct experiences, observing or hearing about the socially negative experiences
of others, or verbal warnings of social problems and dangers, may also make the development of a
social anxiety disorder more likely. Social anxiety disorder may be caused by the longer-term
effects of not fitting in, or being bullied, rejected or ignored. Shy adolescents or avoidant adults
have emphasised unpleasant experiences with peers or childhood bullying or harassment. In one
study, popularity was found to be negatively correlated with social anxiety, and children who were

neglected by their peers reported higher social anxiety and fear of negative evaluation than other
categories of children. Socially phobic children appear less likely to receive positive reactions from
peers and anxious or inhibited children may isolate themselves. Further, Social anxiety disorder
may be a learned behaviour. That is, you may develop the condition after witnessing the anxious
behavior of others.
Being too high in interpersonal sensitivity and socially phobic are causes of social anxiety
disorder in social experience aspect.
Like social experiences, cultural influences are another cause of social anxiety disorder.
Developing characters during childhood with poor parenting, not being confidence in own self and
witness the effects of anxiety behavior in lifetime can culture social anxiety disorder within a
person.
Cultural factors that have been related to social anxiety disorder include a society's attitude
towards shyness and avoidance which affecting the ability to form relationships or access
employment or education. One study found that the effects of parenting are different depending on
the culture children who are sheltered or overprotected by their parents may not learn good social
skills as part of their normal development. American children appear more likely to develop social
anxiety disorder if their parents emphasize the importance of others' opinions and use shame as a
disciplinary strategy, but this association was not found for Chinese or Chinese-American children.
In China, research has indicated that shy-inhibited children are more accepted than their peers and
more likely to be considered for leadership and considered competent, in contrast to the findings in
Western countries.
Problems in developing social skills, or 'social fluency', may be a cause of some social
anxiety disorder, either inability or lack of confidence to interact socially and gain positive reactions
and acceptance from others. The studies found no significant problems in social skills while others
have. What does seem clear is that the socially anxious perceive their social skills to be low. It may
be that the increasing need for sophisticated social skills in forming relationships or careers, and an
emphasis on assertiveness and competitiveness, is making social anxiety problems more common.
An interpersonal or media emphasis on 'normal' or 'attractive' personal characteristics has
also been argued to fuel perfectionism and feelings of inferiority or insecurity regarding negative
evaluation from others. The need for social acceptance or social standing has been elaborated in
other lines of research relating to social anxiety. People with social anxiety disorder may develop

their fear from observing the behavior of others or seeing what happened to someone else as the
result of their behaviour, such as being laughed at or made fun of.
Growing up environment with poor parenting skills, lack of confidence in socialize and
media influences of attractive person characteristics culture social anxiety disorder in a person.
Now that we have looked at social experiences and cultural influences, lets turn to
psychological factors. Negative schema and worry about their anxiety symptoms causes social
anxiety disorder to attack.
Negative schema is strengthened when a person feel threatened. Research has indicated the
role of 'unconditional' negative beliefs (e.g. "I am inept") and 'conditional' beliefs which is nearer to
the surface (e.g. "If I show myself, I will be rejected"). They are thought to develop based on
personality and adverse experiences and to be activated when the person feels under threat. One line
of work has focused more specifically on the key role of self-presentational concerns. The resulting
anxiety states are seen as interfering with social performance and the ability to concentrate on
interaction, which in turn creates more social problems, which strengthens the negative schema.
Also highlighted has been a high focus on and worry about anxiety symptoms themselves
and how they might appear to others. A similar model emphasizes the development of a distorted
mental representation of the self and overestimates of the likelihood and consequences of negative
evaluation, and of the performance standards that others have. Such cognitive-behavioural models
consider the role of negatively biased memories of the past and the processes of rumination after an
event, and fearful anticipation before it. Studies have also highlighted the role of subtle avoidance
and defensive factors, and shown how attempts to avoid feared negative evaluations or use safety
behaviours can make social interaction more difficult and the anxiety worse in the long run. This
work has been influential in the development of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for social anxiety
disorder, which has been shown to have efficacy.
The development of social anxiety disorder may stem from embarrassing or humiliating
social experiences in the past, such as being bullied or neglected by peers which makes socially
anxiety to use safety behaviours.
Let me end by tracing the description of Hippocrates towards early social anxiety disorder.
Through suspicion, cannot endure the light or to sit in lightsome places; He dare not come in
company for fear he should be misused, disgraced, he thinks every man observes him. Social

anxiety disorder can be caused by negative social experiences, cultural influences in growing up
environment and personal psychological factors.
Do you still remember my uncle I mentioned earlier? He is now a talkative person after being
diagnosed and given treatment together with having the love from a family.
Social anxiety disorder is not incurable, in fact, as early as you discover the sickness, the higher
the chance it can be treated. Look at the people living around you and give them as much love as
possible to take them away from Social Anxiety Disorder.