A Comparison- Social Anxiety Disorder and Agoraphobia
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Fear is a human sensation that may work for him or against him. In the earliest studies, it has been found out that fear is not typically part of human... |
Fear is a human sensation that may work for him or against him. In the earliest studies, it has been found out that fear is not typically part of human life during birth. But instead, it was developed through time. All fears may be accepted as normal human component yet when one develops intense fear over specific conditions, then he may be having phobias. One such phobia is social phobia or social anxiety disorder.
Social anxiety disorder has no strict, definitive symptoms that are displayed. Yet, if we are to strictly examine the condition we may observe that it typically boils down into a state when too much fear of social interaction is emphasized.
Social phobia may bring the sensation of being trapped without any way to escape. It may also manifest as a feeling of serious need to shut away from the social world. Though social phobia may display symptoms that may be likened to agoraphobia, these conditions are still two different states. To make us better understand their differences, let us define what is agoraphobia and social anxiety disorder.
Social anxiety disorder has the common theme of fear over not performing well in the public or fear of becoming humiliated due to underperformed job. The fear of humiliation may cause the person with this condition to restrict himself to environments that will limit the possibilities of embarrassment. Or they may develop extreme anxiety over the prospect of humiliation.
Social anxiety disorder is not only a psychological and mental disease. Patients of this condition usually display physical symptoms during or before social contact. Symptoms may start as trembling and sweating while many experience blushing and flushing. Because they develop over-consciousness on the people's responses towards their behavior, they will most likely interpret them as reactions to their behavior. Because of this heightened social consciousness, they become more anxious of their environment, thus leading to more awkward behavior that is significant sources of humiliation.
Agoraphobia on the other hand is much like that of the social anxiety disorder since it deals with heightened consciousness towards the individual's environment and the anticipatory humiliation that may come upon them. Yet they mainly differ with the reality of the condition. By definition, agoraphobia is a psychological and behavioral impairment that permits normal social interaction due to elevated fear from the anticipation of humiliation. It also deals with the condition by which the person is restricted in a smaller radius of environment since fear of social contact and intense feeling of non-escape is more prevalent in agoraphobics.
While agoraphobia and social anxiety disorder display symptoms that are similar we still cannot arrive to the fact that they are alike. In fact, they have a number of differences that make them distinct.
Take for instance that though most cases of mental and psychological disorders prevail in the women population, the case of anxiety disorder will reveal that it is quite not in the mainstream. It is only about equally prevalent among both the male and female population.
Interestingly enough, even the very symptoms of social anxiety disorder makes it almost impossible for psychologists and mental health provider to seek the nature of the disorder simply for the reason that most patients refrain from human interaction.
Unfortunately enough, the rate of recognition of this disease is low. This is why it is usually difficult to detect where the condition starts and where does usual shyness begins.
Recommended Reading
- Social Anxiety Disorder
- Definitions of Anxiety Disorder and Conditions for Every Age Bracket
- Social Anxiety
- Anxiety Disorder Symptoms
- Anxiety Disorders
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