Social Anxiety Disorder (ADAA)

Social anxiety disorder is the extreme fear of being judged and scrutinized by others. It is also termed, social phobia. It is common that social anxiety can be specific to certain situations such as speaking in public, meeting a stranger, performing an interview, or going to a party, but in rare occasions it can be a severe fear of every social situation. Generalized social anxiety disorder is the most debilitating form of social anxiety and it can majorly affect the quality of life for people who suffer from it. It is estimated that around 15 million adults have the disorder (ADAA).

Recorded instances of social anxiety date back to 400A B.C. in which Hippocrates conceptualized it, but it didn’t surface again until the 1900s (about health).

The study conducted was a 12 week study on participants 18 years old to 65, and they all rated 20 or above on the Brief Social Phobia Scale. The researchers used a double blind method to ensure accurate results and a placebo was used for the control. The drug acted as a selective serotonin uptake inhibitor and would ideally decrease the impairment that the disorder presented in everyday life. Therefore, success of the drug was measured by psychological impairment ratings given by the participant throughout the time that Fluvoxamine was being given. Initially participants were given 50mg of Fluvoxamine per day, and after a week the dosage could be increased by 50mg per week with 300mg per day being the maximum dosage. The dosages were planned so that they could be reduced immediately in case any prominent side effects began to occur. The result was that “there was a significantly higher proportion of responders in the Fluvoxamine group (42.9%, N=18) than in the placebo group (22.7%, N=10)” which meant that the drug was an effective way to treat social

The more treatments are developed the closer people will get to controlling the issue, and the more it can be understood and accepted as a true disorder. It is also important to continue research on this disorder to uncover more information on disorders and health problems associated with it. Longitudinal studies such as the study done to investigate the correlation between depression and social anxiety disorder displays the importance of fully understanding social phobia, how to treat it, and how to diagnose it early in order to reduce effects that could develop over the course of