When you think of social anxiety, one might picture a shy
individual, but in reality is that individual simply extremely shy or is he
facing an anxiety disorder. Anxiety
disorders are a genuine psychological dilemma.
About 70% of the population will be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder
this year (a statistic from the DSM-IV).
This disorder is faced with symptoms of persistent fear of one or more
social or performance situations in which the individual is exposed to
unfamiliar people and to possible scrutiny.
This comes along with the fear that he or she will commit an act that
will bring about embarrassment or complete humiliation. This situation provokes a fear response.
In going along with these ideas, I have chosen a
stereotypical cartoon of what one might think of when faced with the thought of
a social anxiety support group. In this
cartoon, the counselor tries to begin the session but his patients are sweating
in their seats, or trying to ignore the situation, or hiding in fear. In part these actions are predictably true
for individuals with a social anxiety disorder, however, this cartoon, like all
cartoons, is exaggerating the situation.
In a real instance, the participants would probably not show up for the
session or would be facing intense anxiety or distress. Intense situations like speaking in to a
group are either avoided or endured with distress.
Although this cartoon is a visual exaggeration of my topic,
it does a fair job of visually depicting the stereotypical social anxiety image. This cartoon will be used as a visual representation
of what I am referring to in my paper to help the reader see what one
experiencing a social anxiety disorder might go through on a daily basis when
confronted with phobic situations such as a simple counseling session among a
small group of people.
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