7 percent of the people in America have a fear of being observed and receiving judgement from others around them, whether at school, or at their job. They fear most or any form of social contact for the possibility of them being turned down and not accepted by others. This fear can be known as Social Anxiety disorder also known as “Social Phobia”. This phobia is a branch of anxiety disorder that causes a person to feel extreme nervousness in public settings. This affects those who have it in their day to day lives, whether they make a trip to the store and speak to the cashier or just speaking to a colleague.
Symptoms of this condition may include, feeling nauseous, feeling awkward and uncomfortable when around other people, avoiding social interactions or situations, shyness and making very few eye contact, having a hard time meeting new people or making conversation with new people, and having a rapid heart rate in a public situation. Social Anxiety Disorder can begin very early in a child but isn’t as notable as it’s taken more as shyness. Causes of this condition may include genetics, brain structure and lack of social skills.
Treatment can be sought through a doctor whom can prescribe medication or use psychotherapy, which is talk therapy. There are also many support groups of people dealing with the same condition and symptoms that can help someone overcome their Social Phobia. If left untreated, the symptoms can worsen over time. There could possibly underlying symptoms to occur.
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Researchers have conducted a study that a phobia of being laughed at, known as gelotophobia, is possibly another symptom and is more common in those who suffer from Social Anxiety Disorder and Anxious Personality disorder. This research was conducted by Michael M. Havranek, Fleur Volkart, Bianca Bolliger, Sophie Roos, Erich Seifritz, Willibald Ruch, Maximilian Buschner, Rami0n Mansour, Thomas Chmielewski, Katharina Gaudlitz, and Josef Hattenschwiler. The studied took place in the Canton Zurich, northeast Switzerland.
The study involved about 133 members. Those who qualified were healthy participants (69 people), and those who were psychiatric patients (64 people) who suffered from disorders such as, schizophrenia or disorders that weren’t specifically SAD or ADP but that fall close to those diagnosis. The ages were completely specified, but the participants ranged from the age 19-87, those of who were involved were consisted 66 men and 67 women.
Healthy participants had to have no record of impairments of any kind, however, if the patient uses illicit drugs regularly, or even prescribed, this disqualifies them for the study. For psychiatric patients, they became disqualified if they contained more than four confirmed disorders.
