Social phobia,[1][2] also called social anxiety disorder, is a psychological disorder. In the DSM-IV, phobia is classified as an anxiety disorder.[3] A person suffering from this disorder has anxiety, great insecurity and shyness for everyday social interactions and events, for example, parties, meetings and sometimes talking on the phone or running errands. There may be a fear of rejection, comments, criticism, bullying and laughter. In addition to general social phobia, there are specific forms such as fear of blushing, fear of peeing and (fear of) stuttering.
Description
Social phobia is an overwhelming fear that in extreme cases causes the sufferer to stay home and live in isolation for long periods of time. Those suffering from social phobia are excessively afraid of judgment, feel watched and possibly humiliated by his/her actions, behavior or appearance. Social phobia should not be confused with panic disorder. Sufferers of panic disorder are convinced that their panic has a physical cause. After a panic attack, they often go to a hospital or call an ambulance. People with social phobia also sometimes have panic attacks, but they are aware that they are experiencing an irrational fear. Few people with the social phobia voluntarily go to a hospital because they fear being rejected or negatively judged by authoritative people (e.g., medical staff). Interaction with authority figures is particularly difficult for them, as are phone calls, dates, parties and job interviews.
Treatment BeterKlinic
BeterKliniek is the clinic for Integrative Medicine that bridges regular and non-regular medicine.
An van Veen (physician) and Michael van Gils (therapist) look for the cause of a condition or disease. That is where the treatment starts otherwise, as people often say, it is 'carrying water to the sea'. We call this cause medicine. Sometimes it is also desirable to treat the symptoms (at the same time). We call this symptom medicine.
Chronic disorders often have their cause in epi- genetics. You can schedule a free informative telephone consultation (phone number 040-7117337 until 1 p.m.) at BeterKliniek to discuss your symptoms so that we can provide you with further advice.
