say it's your first day at a new job
maybe you're nervous or jittery you want
to make a good impression
those feelings are pretty normal and
they may actually help you be more alert
and careful but after a few weeks once
you're used to the job and you know your
coworkers that nervousness usually
diminishes right well for some people
that initial anxiety is really high and
it stays really high over time for those
people the fear of being judged
negatively by new people might be so
daunting that it affects their ability
to do their job well in fact even the
idea of having to be somewhere where
they may be scrutinized by others might
make them not want to do the job in the
first place this describes social
anxiety disorder
it's unclear what causes social anxiety
disorder but it's thought to be a
combination of genetic and environmental
factors like having a close relative
with social anxiety disorder or being
exposed to neglect and abuse the
diagnostic and statistical manual of
mental disorders or dsm-5 defines social
anxiety disorder as causing individuals
to fear acting in a certain way that
might make them get judged and it can
cause anxiety that interferes with their
normal routine as well as their
relationships and what's more is the
fear of anxiety is persistent lasting
for six or more months usually social
anxiety disorder causes distress for
individuals in specific social
situations or circumstances for example
one person might get really anxious when
making small talk with acquaintances or
meeting new people whereas another
person might get performance anxiety and
not feel able to give a presentation or
give a toast at friend's wedding social
anxiety disorder is an ego-dystonic
condition meaning the people who have
the disorder usually understand that
their anxiety is unwarranted but
unfortunately that awareness can cause
more anxiety because they'll fear that
others can tell how anxious they are
sometimes individuals might worry that
they may be having physical symptoms
like trembling or blushing that others
may notice and judge them for sometimes
the anxiety can get so severe that it
causes something called derealization
meaning that a person might feel spaced
out and maybe less able to recognize
their surroundings in order to reduce
their social inhibitions some people
with social anxiety use drugs and
alcohol and that can lead to dependency
in addiction
the dsm-5 states that in order to make a
diagnosis of social anxiety disorder the
fear or avoidance shouldn't be due to
the effects of a medication or due to
another condition and that's important
because there are key features of social
anxiety disorder that overlap with other
conditions for example in generalized
anxiety disorder individuals have
anxiety but it's not limited to being
judged in a social context the anxiety
is usually broader and includes non
social concerns like finances or
physical safety
another example is agoraphobia where
people avoid public places for fear of
being trapped and not being able to
escape just in case something
embarrassing happens or if they begin to
panic but in of agoraphobia the fear is
less about being judged and more about
being trapped in a crowd and not able to
escape treatment usually involves
psychotherapy medication or a
combination of the two if it's
psychotherapy cognitive behavioral
therapy is recommended since it teaches
a person new ways of thinking and
behaviors to help them in being around
others anti-de presence on the most
common choice of medication specifically
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
or SSRIs serotonin norepinephrine
reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs as well as
benzodiazepines and beta blockers SSRIs
help regulate serotonin levels in the
brain while SNR eyes help regulate
serotonin norepinephrine and dopamine to
manage anxiety benzodiazepines are
psychoactive drugs that have a relaxing
effect and beta blockers can help ease
the physical symptoms of performance
anxiety though medication can be
effective in the short term cognitive
behavioral therapy has more advantages
in the long term due to the potential of
unwanted side effects all right so as a
quick recap people with social anxiety
disorder have heightened anxiety about
acting in a way or showing symptoms of
anxiety that will be negatively
scrutinized by others anxiety that is
restricted only to performance is a
specific type of social anxiety the
anxiety is almost always present in a
particular social situation and it's
severe enough that it interferes with
the normal course of
life
Oh
hi everyone I'm Sarah here thanks for
watching that video on social anxiety
disorder I'm a really important and
often not very well understood topic
which is you know vital to be aware of
whether you're working in a psychiatric
field or as a medical clinician or even
as a member of the public is important
to be aware because this obviously has a
huge impact on people's lives
and I hope we help to share a bit more
light on the subject for you the script
was written by Simone it was edited by
Rishi Todd and Kathy and I did the
illustration and the voice-over and then
the whole video is edited by Sam so big
thanks to the team who made it happen if
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you