Social Anxiety and Separation Anxiety Disorder

Separation Anxiety

• Clinical Description
  • Characterized by unrealistic and persistent worry that something will happen to self or loved ones when apart (e.g., kidnapping, accident) as well as anxiety about leaving loved ones
  • 4.1% of children meet criteria, 6.6% for adults

Clinical Description of Social Anxiety

• Extreme/irrational concern about being negatively evaluated by other people
• Sometimes (not always) manifests as shyness
• Leads to significant impairment and/or distress
• Avoidance of feared situations, or endurance with extreme distress
• Subtype
  • Performance only: Anxiety only in performance situations (e.g. public speaking)
• Statistics
  • 12.1% (life); 6.8% (year)
  • Female : Male = 1:1
  • Onset = usually adolescence
  • Peak age of onset = 13
  • More common in people who are young (18 to 29 years), undereducated, single, and of low socioeconomic class,
  • 13.6% prevalence in ages 18 to 29
  • 6.6% prevalence in ages 60+

Social Anxiety Across Cultures

• Japan—taijin kyofusho
  • Fear of offending others or making them uncomfortable
  • Concern about aspects of personal appearance (e.g., stuttering, blushing, body odor)
  • More common in males

Causes of Social Anxiety

• Generalized psychological vulnerability
  • E.g., belief that threatening events are uncontrollable
• Generalized biological vulnerability
  • E.g., propensity toward anxiety

Treatment of Social Anxiety

• Medications
  • Beta blockers
  • Benzodiazepines
  • SSRI (Paxil, Zoloft, and Effexor)
  • D-cycloserine
• Psychological
  • Cognitive-behavioral treatment
  • Challenging of anxious thoughts about the consequences of social judgment
  • Exposure to anxiety-provoking situations
  • Rehearsal
  • Role-play
  • Highly effective

\