First of all let us define what social anxiety disorder really is. Social anxiety disorder, or social phobia is loosely defined as the fear of being placed in social situations. Milder forms may point to such behaviour as stage fright, fear of public speaking and fear of engaging others in social situations.
The symptoms of this disorder readily present themselves both as behavioural and physiological manifestations.
Behavioural exhibitions of this would include chronic avoidance by the subject of situations where the subject is placed in scrutiny by a group of people. Such situations may include social gatherings such as parties, conventions, seminars, or settings that require the presence of many people such as schools.
While ordinary people may misjudge a person who chronically avoids social situations, simply as a shy person, the person as the subject of scrutiny actualizes these perceptions negatively and reinforces this behaviour through repetition and rationalization. To some, this rationalization may be hard to understand and may be wrongfully labelled as deviant behaviour. The similarities between deviant behaviour and social anxiety disorder are nevertheless very much akin to each other.
Other symptoms of this disorder include physiological ones. Shallow breathing, panic attacks, inability to speak, inability to look at other people, trembling of various parts of the body, stuttering in speech, nausea, vomiting, chest pains and other psychosomatic manifestations in combination with behavioural aspects all tend to characterize this disorder.
Some symptoms may prove to be more covert and hidden from other people’s point of view. Some people tend to cope with this disorder by means of masking the self perceived symptoms with other behaviour such as lying and disinterest.
Hence, a subject who finds himself in a situation where he is thrust amidst many people, may excuse himself under the pretense of what he perceives to be socially acceptable excuses.
To illustrate the point further, let us paint the picture of a young man who is suffering from this disorder. He finds himself constrained to join the school’s prom. During the school prom, the young man finds himself unable to co-mingle with his peers and decides to sulk in a corner. As he sulks in the corner any person who approaches him for conversation may get an excuse that is irreconcilable with the situation. Like, “Please go away, I am allergic to your perfume.” To the person who approaches the subject with this disorder, the statement alluding to his perfume may be offensive and he will then decide to leave the company of the person suffering from the disorder. The person then suffering from the unwanted company of the person who approached will return to his normal status until such time that he finds the opportunity to leave the event altogether and go back to his comfort zone.
This is but a mild attempt to describe the manifestations of this disorder. More extreme manifestations may present circumstances when the subject person exhibits psychosomatic symptoms. It is said that the mind has the power to alter the function of the body. Sometimes the mind acts as an automatic defence system when an unfavourable situation is thrust on the subject. Let’s say for example a young woman is forced to make a speech to a large gathering. In addition to her lack of confidence prior to giving the speech, tension builds up inside of her that makes her blood pressure rise up, make her sweat profusely, exhibit panic through panting, and in some cases elicit a body reaction that would merit the stoppage of the event such as collapsing, freezing and even uncontrollable crying.
Again, the presentation of these symptoms as behavioural and physiological is justified. In the example illustrated above, the woman’s physical condition of not being able to physically present herself in public is an excuse for a behaviour that would allow her to rationalize the incapacity to perform.
Here, fear takes hold of the mind and the mind takes hold of the body. The mind plays a central role in the exhibition of these physical symptoms. Without the comprehension of the mind of the presentation of the adverse event that is the social situation, the body would not have shown the responses that it has. Sometimes, even belief has this power.
