Hey guys was just wonderin wat ur ideas on the cause of social anxiety.do you think it a chemical inbalance in the brain or is it a phsycological thing we just develop or do you think it mite be sumtin else.all comments and ideas are welcome.as an sa sufferer myself i realise we al must have sum opinion on this subject
The cause of social anxiety
- Thread starter Badbuz
- Start date
Off The Wall
Well-known member
I think the whole chemical imbalance for mental illness's is a stupid reason. If it was the reason, then why do you have to feel crap for like a month before the medication kicks in? shouldn't it work straight away? I always have low iron levels.. i take iron tablets and they make them go up i don't need to feel crap for a month before they work.
I think its just a phsycological thing, something that happened when you were younger, or the way you were brought up, something happened in your life that made you worry about certain things.
Also i guess its just your personality, i dunno... i was shy since the day i was born.. that was just my personality.. i didn't have SA but i guess if i let the shyness take over then yeah i'd develop it.. as i did.. along with comments from people along the way which lowers your self esteem..
i'm talking so much crap lol
I think its just a phsycological thing, something that happened when you were younger, or the way you were brought up, something happened in your life that made you worry about certain things.
Also i guess its just your personality, i dunno... i was shy since the day i was born.. that was just my personality.. i didn't have SA but i guess if i let the shyness take over then yeah i'd develop it.. as i did.. along with comments from people along the way which lowers your self esteem..
i'm talking so much crap lol
FountainandFairfax
in a VAN down by the RIVER
I've always been very shy, even when I was really young. I used to hide under my bed when company came over, and starting kindergarten was a nightmare. My mother had to sit in the room at the back of the class the first few days of school until I got used to it.
Whether that was social phobia back then or not, I don't know, but I think the pressure to fit in and find yourself as you grow up can be hell on shy people. And if you're too sensitive, it can definitely lead to social phobia.
Whether that was social phobia back then or not, I don't know, but I think the pressure to fit in and find yourself as you grow up can be hell on shy people. And if you're too sensitive, it can definitely lead to social phobia.
Like Barry, I developed it when I was about to set off for uni when I was about 18. Up until that point I was fairly OK but, as I look back on my life, it is clear that there was always an underlying sense that there was "something wrong" with me.
This feeling was magnified I think because my old coping mechanisms i.e like humour, diverting attention to others ect were insufficent to cope with my new environment.
This feeling was magnified I think because my old coping mechanisms i.e like humour, diverting attention to others ect were insufficent to cope with my new environment.
Scotsman
Member
I think there are many different pathways to social anxiety and all of the ones said above roll into one and are all true. I am doing a doctoral thesis on social anxiety so know a bit about it and would like to share my thoughts.
A developmental biopsychosocial model would say that social anxiety is a consequence of genetic, learning and social-experence factors which interact to increase the chance pf developing this condition. Support for genetics come from studies showing that social anxiety tends to run in families. This could also meaning learning/modeling of anxious responses however. Personality, or shy temperaments, also appear early in life and are mediated by genetics and environment.
These early "risk factors" can, in turn, make it difficult for people to adapt to challenges/changes in environment (e.g., school, university, independence) or they can lead to certain social experiences (e.g., rejection, social isolation). This can have a knock on effect in terms of learning of social skills/coping and self-esteem. It becomes a perpetuating and vicious cycle.
On the flipside you may have none of these early "risk factors" (i.e., genetics, temperment) and develop social anxiety simply through speicifc learning experiences (e.g., being humiliated publicly).
I think that the development of social anxiety also depends on changes in self-awareness and the ability to think about self and others. This does not emerge until late childhood (10-12) and into adoelscence which is the time when social anxiety has its highest prevalence. Changes in awareness are also coupled with certain social challanges (e.g., fitting in) so this might make adolescence a particulartly vulnerable time as we aquire the capacity to reflect on our own and others evalautions of ourselves.
Also I wouldnt be so quick to shun medications. I think they have their place. Some peoples social anxiety is driven by their physiological arousal which they use for an indication of performance and liklihood that something bad will happen -- that other people will think they are weird or crazy if they blush, tremble etc. Medications which reduce arousal and, in turn this negatyive appraisal, may lessen social anxiety in the same way that therapy would seek to change the appraisal more directly. Medications may also inhibit arousal and promote more approach behaviour which effectively is teaching the body/brain new ways to responding via a chemical-exposure based interaction. They may increase sel;f-efficacy the same way that cognitive-behavioural therapy does.
By the same token I am also skeptical in that I am on meds at the moment and am not sure if my body has changed in reactivity or I am just generally dulled so my appraisals are less powerful, even if my bodys messgaes are the same. This makes me worried when the meds get taken away.
Well I hope that helps for some people. There is definatley no one way to get social anxiety and its not either or. I think the best thing you can do is get some help and stop hiding from it because we can be really good at that.
A developmental biopsychosocial model would say that social anxiety is a consequence of genetic, learning and social-experence factors which interact to increase the chance pf developing this condition. Support for genetics come from studies showing that social anxiety tends to run in families. This could also meaning learning/modeling of anxious responses however. Personality, or shy temperaments, also appear early in life and are mediated by genetics and environment.
These early "risk factors" can, in turn, make it difficult for people to adapt to challenges/changes in environment (e.g., school, university, independence) or they can lead to certain social experiences (e.g., rejection, social isolation). This can have a knock on effect in terms of learning of social skills/coping and self-esteem. It becomes a perpetuating and vicious cycle.
On the flipside you may have none of these early "risk factors" (i.e., genetics, temperment) and develop social anxiety simply through speicifc learning experiences (e.g., being humiliated publicly).
I think that the development of social anxiety also depends on changes in self-awareness and the ability to think about self and others. This does not emerge until late childhood (10-12) and into adoelscence which is the time when social anxiety has its highest prevalence. Changes in awareness are also coupled with certain social challanges (e.g., fitting in) so this might make adolescence a particulartly vulnerable time as we aquire the capacity to reflect on our own and others evalautions of ourselves.
Also I wouldnt be so quick to shun medications. I think they have their place. Some peoples social anxiety is driven by their physiological arousal which they use for an indication of performance and liklihood that something bad will happen -- that other people will think they are weird or crazy if they blush, tremble etc. Medications which reduce arousal and, in turn this negatyive appraisal, may lessen social anxiety in the same way that therapy would seek to change the appraisal more directly. Medications may also inhibit arousal and promote more approach behaviour which effectively is teaching the body/brain new ways to responding via a chemical-exposure based interaction. They may increase sel;f-efficacy the same way that cognitive-behavioural therapy does.
By the same token I am also skeptical in that I am on meds at the moment and am not sure if my body has changed in reactivity or I am just generally dulled so my appraisals are less powerful, even if my bodys messgaes are the same. This makes me worried when the meds get taken away.
Well I hope that helps for some people. There is definatley no one way to get social anxiety and its not either or. I think the best thing you can do is get some help and stop hiding from it because we can be really good at that.
My theory is that Generalized Social Anxiety Disorder is a complex formed by an underlying neurological condition and cognitive thinking patterns. The parts of the brain which control though transition and anxiety, which are implicated in obsessive and anxiety disorders, are overly active in people with Social Phobia (this is proven). A traumatizing event or series of events can lead a person to develope a phobia of being defective in some particular fashion. If the person then fears that other people may discover this "defect" and reject them (thereby confirm it), they will develope a phobia of social interactions. I believe this is especialy true if a person has intrusive thought disorder, and that the greater the person's underlying obsessivness-anxiety, the more predisposed they are to developing Social Phobia. It is possible that there is a kind of generalized social anxiety disorder that is purely neurological (the kind that starts in infancy), but Im not sure yet.