Allergic to People
Imagine staring down the barrel of a gun with your life at the mercy of a madman. Your nervous system would rev out of control as it prepares your body to run like hell or retaliate. This innate reaction, known as the fight or flight response, would be appropriate and necessary in a life threatening situation.
Now, imagine having this same overwhelming physiological response, only this time you are buying groceries at a local supermarket, eating in a restaurant, perhaps being introduced to someone, or giving a small talk. This is what it feels like to the millions who silently suffer from social anxiety disorder. It’s a disproportionate fear of being evaluated, judged, and embarrassed in social situations. People with social anxiety fear the high amount of anxiety experienced before, during, and after social situations and events, not the panic attack itself. While it may be easy to intellectually articulate why it’s so illogical to be fearful, it’s as though one’s nervous system has an agenda of its own.
The socially anxious tend to read and interpret facial expressions that may or may not be accurate, but nonetheless elicit an overwhelming anxiety response. It is more of a continuum, rather than a neatly packaged checklist of symptoms. Public speaking, job interviewing, and asking someone for a date are the most common, and milder forms of social anxiety. However, when daily life becomes severely disrupted, it can lead to a highly debilitating form of avoidance behavior known as social phobia. In the extreme, some build a hermetic life, and feel forced to quit school or work. They don’t necessarily prefer isolation, but rather their desire for social interaction is outwitted by their fear. It is often the seemingly, innocuous situations like asking a stranger for directions that can trigger intense anxiety, and lead to a horrible, life-restricting disorder.
As the third largest mental health care problem in the U.S., social anxiety affects 7-8% of the population, but is often lumped together with other anxiety disorders, thus diluting its already misunderstood status. It is frequently equated with being shy, but the socially anxious are often extroverts. Ironically, many of those who suffer from social anxiety can act their way through social savvy professions, but they do so with great distress. Their outward demeanor becomes a constant agonizing performance, while inside they are frightened and anxious that their timidity will be discovered. It is this group in particular that goes undiagnosed and untreated. They often don’t understand it themselves, nor would others believe that someone who outwardly appears so confident could be so terrified. It’s because it’s so irrational that people fear talking about it.
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