Social Anxiety Essay

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Social Anxiety Essay
Social anxiety disorder is included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) as one of the Mental Disorders alongside several different anxiety disorder such as panic disorder. It is defined in the manual as a social mental problem that causes fear and anxiety. It is also associated with avoidance of social contacts. For a person to be considered a patient of the disease he or she has to show the symptoms for a period of six months or more. The DSM further states that a person with social anxiety disorder portrays persistent fear especially when exposed to unfamiliar persons or feels is under scrutiny from others. This is because there is a tendency for the person to get easily embarrassed and humiliated. Occurrences of feared situations quickly cause anxiety or situation bond that results in panic attacks. The person tries to avoid the feared situations or the occurrence is faced with great tension because feared events are identified earlier than usual making the levels of fear unreasonable.
The excessive fear and avoidance of uncomfortable situations interfere with the person’s social life and performance. The person’s normal routine is faced with distress and anxiety caused by the frequent anticipation. As a result, it is difficult to cope or even excel in academic functioning, relations and any other social activities because there is marked distress in many activities. The manual further notes that the fear or avoidance of situations of social anxiety patients is not caused by physiological effects such as misuse of a drug or medication or general medical problem. Overall, DSM defines social anxiety disorder as persistent fear, avoidance and anxiety that lasts six months and over.
For over 25 years society anxiety had been a neglected disorder but according to Kesser (2003), it has increasingly gained the attention of medical professional and psychiatrists due to the effects the disease has on a persons’ psychological and occupational functioning. to cope with the adherence level of challenges and frequent side effects on persons under medications to manage the disease, there are several suggested psychological therapies that are associated with management of the social anxiety symptoms. According to Well’s (2000), cognitive and behavioural approaches is one of the best used psychological therapies that is best be used in social disorders compared to humanistic, integrative and third-wave cognitive behavioural therapies.
Literature Review
A. Research by Lecrubier and Weille (1997), compared the impact and similarity of cognitive behavioural therapy and behavioural therapy as a treatment of social disorders. They found that because both theories rely on pharmacological treatments, they are a success in making meta-analyses which consequently improve humanistic, integrative and even psychodynamic character among human begins. The research, therefore, concluded that behavioural therapy is sufficient as a treatment for social anxiety. It makes sufficient reviews on the comparison of pharmacological treatments to behavioural therapies for social anxiety. Their analyses and conclusions are made using several salient clinical which proves the positive effects of behavioural theories.
However, Lecrubier and Weille research and analysis fail to provide sufficient information on the required management process of social anxiety or mental patients as a whole. Though the article manages to state clearly the positive impact of cognitive behavioural therapy or behavioural therapy it can not be used as a good reference to the treatment of the mental diseases. Failing to provide a structural way in which cognitive behavioural therapy can be used lives the actual treatment process is quite vague. Therefore, their research is a great contribution to proving that behavioural based theories are sufficient in the treatment of mental disorders as they concentrate of the humanitarian aspects.
B. Falone 2001, states that treatment and post-treatment of social anxiety should be structured to assist the patients in gaining more adaptive social behaviours. this means that as a result, the patients will reduce feelings of fear, anger, incompetence and passivity which eventually cause fear. the research is focused on providing that cognitive therapy can assist a person in gaining better social skills. To provide his claims, Falone carries out research on twenty patients with mental disorders. the goal was to better understand the patients’ core belief and identify distorted thoughts that eventually yield anxiety. Falone’s cognitive process or research involves collecting a diary of the patients record on distorted thoughts and any other social events that cause anxiety to the patient. He later requests the patient to view those noted situations in a factual form or basically imagine themselves in that situation. The patient is then questioned on the topic to ensure he or she gets comfortable talking about it.This eventually assists in reframing their minds regarding the anxiety caused by the selected situation. Therefore, the article provides analysis on the importance of Socratic questioning in cognitive therapy treatment. Creating a factual situation to that which the patients fears helps manage the excessive fear that similar situation arose and build alternative social reactions.
Falcone EO. O research methodology is focused on experimenting the impact of cognitive therapy using Socratic questioning. This approach is aimed at reducing logical errors that are common in social anxiety disorder. For instance, the patient is assisted in avoiding mental-reading, guessing and personalization while among unfamiliar persons. Eventually, the patients are expected to gain self-confidence. The research is well research and backed up by multiple primary data which makes it credible and resourceful in the treatment of social anxiety. However, Felone also recognises that his research calls for additional resources and contribution to the expected period that the patient requires before improvements can be noted on the patients negative hypothesis. Therefore, Felone’s research is highly informative but improvements on how long should the Socratic questioning and review take is still required. In addition, improvements to the Socratic question that Felone should recognize is the core beliefs and are developed using different procedures and characteristics of each occurrence and therefore all events can not be equated to be similar as depicted by the Socratic questioning in cognitive therapy.
C. Beck, Emery and Greenberg (2007), states that social anxiety is as a result of the dysfunctional belief that a person holds regarding themselves and how others perceive them in a social setting. their research is based on the three dysfunctional beliefs that a person can hold: extreme high standards of social conduct, assumption beliefs relating to relating to other peoples’ evaluation and stable self-analysis (Musa & Lepine, 2000). All the three dysfunctional beliefs influence social behaviours because the high need to prove what a person thinks or perceive to be true instills pressure and tension which makes it difficult for them to carry on normally. The researchers argue that one the cognitive beliefs interact with a social situation a person faces them with anxiety. for instance, a person with very high standards of social conduct will not be ready to make any error or will not even be ready t accept criticism. As a result, the need to retain or gain high standards results to tension and fear while in public which further influences behaviour. Evidence of any incompetence will yield anxiety and change in behaviour which will appear as an antisocial behaviour. Once this effect is noticed by other people and the person is informed, it acts as a confirmation of their worst fears. The dysfunctional beliefs influence the persons social interpretation and, therefore, most events are perceived with bias which further make the person more unacceptable. Therefore, the research provides several analyses in which a person’s beliefs about themselves greatly influence how others think or perceive them (Musa et al., 2000)
D. Clark and Well’s (1995) cognitive model of social anxiety disorder. Clark and Well’s research focus on the salient effect on social behaviour. The two argue that social situations are combined of an external and internal environment which ensure individuals are able to associate with others without solely focusing on themselves. Attaining a balance on two environment situations determines how well a person can understand others, relate with them in different situations without disregarding personal needs and influence. The social anxiety disorder persons disregard the external environment in the social set ups hence increasing individual awareness. As a result, there is an increase in feared responses and negative reactions yielding misinterpretation of the situation. Persons with this characteristic appear to be self-centered and their behaviour eventually changes in the social domain. This further confirms their fears that they are social misfits or basically yields negative assumptions.
Clark and Well’s also provided ethical guidance using their analysis on social environments. they argue that focusing on the internal environment in the social set up acts like a double-edged sword. the person using this approach is not easily discouraged by what others perceive of him. A person may actually gain confidence and highly succeed in social activities. However, a case of a strong negative feedback or analysis attacking their ego the level of discouraged is higher than required. The article and research analysis of the two authors advice on maintaining a balance between the external and internal social environment.
E. Rapee and Heimberg’s (1997) view cognitive model as treatment of social anxiety disorder as a management of an individual anticipation and the actual representation of a person in the public. Rapee and Heimberg research is similar to Clark and Wells (1995) except for the assumption that a person develops a postulated individual participation while in public. The anticipated image is developed based on previous memories, social feedback or physical capabilities. However, Clark and Wells only focus on the two sides of a social setting the individual and the audience or the other party. Rapee and Heimberg article and analysis is not based on primary data but include ethical analysis by stating that when a person on thinks too high of themselves they are not only at risk of discouragement and but also prone to criticismThe authors conclude by stating that the more the difference between the actual representation and anticipated representation the higher the person is open to negative criticism.
F. Rachman (1977) in his article Learning Models of Society Disorder analysis a different concept of cognitive therapy as a treatment of social anxiety. He focuses on the learning impact of a person to building social behaviour. According to Rachman, there are three types of fears that are associated with previous learning experiences. For instance, direct conditioning which is brought about stimulus events that had a fearful response. Associating a previous negative experience with a present situation will tend to yield similar results. In addition, the vicarious acquisition which refers to witnessing another person undergo pain or a traumatic experience will subsequently induce fear. The third fear associated with learning is the information pathways where difference social concepts are passed through information gained while reading or listening. Therefore, Rachman advises that for cognitive therapy to be effective in the treatment of social anxiety it is also necessary to manage learnt information as well as well as fight ignorance. The research and advice provided in the article are a great addition to the existing research on the treatment of social therapy because it confirms that social illnesses are as a result of both previous, current and anticipated occurrences.
In conclusion, existing research confirms that social anxiety disorder has become a major social disorder affecting several people all over the world. the research provides evidence on the existence of psychological assistance on the treatment and management of social disorders. Cognitive therapy is one of the most used strategies because it combines a number interventions. For instance, it helps understand the two environments present in the social setting; internal or the individual and the external or the audience. In addition, cognitive therapy can be progressive thus assisting the patients to anticipate different occurrences. However, cognitive therapy as a treatment method for social anxiety has a few drawbacks as evidenced by difference research but it can achieve excellent results if combined with ethical issues and advice.

References
Beck, A. T., Rush, A. J., Shaw, B. F., & Emery, G. (1987). Cognitive therapy of depression. New York: Guildford Press.
Clark, D. M., & Wells, A. A. (1995). Cognitive model of social phobia. In R. G. Heimberg,
M. R. Liebowitz, S. A. Hope, F. R. Schneier, (Eds.), Social Phobia: Diagnosis,
Assessment and Treatment. New York: Guildford Press.
Gould, R. A., Buckminster, S., Pollack, M. H., Otto, M. W., & Yap, L. (1997). Cognitive- behavioural and pharmacological treatment for social phobia: A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 4, 291-306.
Falcone EO. O processamento cognitivo da ansiedade na fobia social. Rev Psiq Clin. 2001;2 (6):309-12.
Rachman (1977). Learning models of social anxiety disorder. Behav Res Ther. 1977(9):991 1007.
Rapee and Heimberg’s (1997) cognitive model of social anxiety disorder). Cognitive therapy of depression. New York: Guildford Press.
Lecrubier Y, Weiller, E. Comorbidities in social phobia. Int Clin Psychopharmacology. 1997;1 (Suppl 6):S17-21.
Wells, A. (2000). Emotional disorders and metacognition: Innovative cognitive therapy. Chichester, UK: Wiley.

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