Social anxiety

Question 1

Social anxiety disorder

Answer 1

-Fear of interacting with others or social situations that may cause negative evaluation

Question 2

DSM-5 for social anxiety

Answer 2

• Fear or anxiety about one or more social situations in which the individual is exposed to possible scrutiny by others e.g. social interactions, being observed or performing in front of others
• Fear that she or he will act in a way or show anxiety symptoms that will be negatively evaluated or offend others
• Social situations almost always provoke anxiety or fear which leads to active avoidance or enduring behaviours
• The fear or anxiety is out of proportion to the actual threat posed by the social situation.
• Persistent for six months or more and may cause clinically significant distress or impairment in functioning
• Disturbance is not due to the effects of a substance or other medical condition

Question 3

Genetic disorders

Answer 3

• Twin studies have shown that submissiveness, anxiousness, social avoidance and behavioral inhibition have genetic component
• Genetic factors are estimated to account for 13% of the variance in social fears

Question 4

Family and developmental factors

Answer 4

• Maternal links between anxiety and offspring development of social anxiety related to behaviour inhibited style in childhood but does not cause social phobia
• Parent-child interaction shows less warmth, sociability and using shame as discipline

Question 5

Cognitive factors

Answer 5

• Information and interpretation bias: more critical and underestimate skills
• Difficulty in processing positive social feedback (ppts asked to give a speech gave lower ratings of observer’s enjoyment even if they observers only gave positive feedback)
• Ppts with social anxiety showed more bias towards attending to negative faces and self-focused attention on their anxiety and responses which distracts them from the task and reinforcers their perception of anxiety

Question 6

CBT

Answer 6

• Exposure therapy by having client remain in feared situation without escape
• Social skill training, modelling, behavior rehearsal and role play
• Challenge and replace negative self-evaluation and reduce self-focused attention

Question 7

Pharmacological

Answer 7

• Monoamine oxidise inhibitors (MAOIs)

- Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)