Causes of Social Phobia
- Anxiety Disorders
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
- Panic Disorder
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Social Anxiety Disorder
- Childhood Disorders
- Down Syndrome
- Eating Disorders
- Mood Disorders
- Personality Disorders
- Phobias
- Somatoform Disorders
- Mental Disorder Articles
Causes of Social Phobia
Origins
There is no evidence to suggest that social phobia is transmitted genetically. However, like other anxiety disorders, it does tend to run in families. It may be encouraged by family attitudes. If one or both parents are obviously afraid of strangers, or express terror at the thought of public speaking, then their children are likely to have similar attitudes. This ‘copying the parents’ behavior is present in all young mammals.
Genetics may play a part in producing a susceptible individual, as it helps in the formation of their personality. Social phobics tend to be thoughtful, intelligent, idealistic, subdued and introspective. These qualities do not in themselves lead to the disorder. They simply create an environment where social phobia may flourish.
Social phobia is, at its heart, a learned behavior. The majority of sufferers learn to fear embarrassment between eleven and eighteen. This gives several years to ‘practice’ avoiding social situations. By the time they reach adulthood, many sufferers are experts at ducking social contact, whether they realize it or not. Treatment is thus largely about unlearning this behavior.
The Original Incident
About fifty percent of social phobics report that their phobia stemmed from a single incident, often in childhood. Perhaps they were humiliated in front of the class, or made fun of by older children. Whatever the original incident, the sufferer came to fear that if they were not careful, they would be embarrassed like that again. This type of fear is common across all anxiety disorders.
It is probable that even more cases could be traced back to a single incident. Many things that happen in childhood are not accessible for recall as an adult. Traumatic social situations may seem to be ‘forgotten’, when they are sitting in the subconscious, affecting the way a sufferer thinks.
It is important to understand that a first incident does not always ‘cause’ social phobia. Some original incidents are genuinely horrifying, sometimes involving physical or sexual abuse. Usually however, the situations are far less noteworthy, such as a childhood loss of bladder control. With social phobia, the incident appears to have gained greater significance with the passing of time.
Why Do Isolated Incidents Come to Mean So Much?
Anxiety disorder typically begins in the adolescent or teenage years. The brain is reinventing itself at this time. We attempt to generate a framework by which we can understand our place in the world. Isolated incidents can have so much significance attached to them because the mind is actively looking for examples of life principles. We are looking for situations that prove to us how the world works. If an embarrassing situation occurs, a person susceptible to introspection may begin to subconsciously believe that their mission in life is to avoid embarrassment.
All rights reserved.