Chapter I Introduction

Social anxiety is the fear of social situations that involve

interaction with other people. You could say social anxiety is the
fear and anxiety of being negatively judged and evaluated by
other people. The fear may be made worse by a lack of social
skills or experience in social situations. The anxiety can build
into a panic attack. It is a pervasive disorder and causes anxiety
and fear in most all areas of a person's life. It is chronic because
it does not go away on its own.
It is the third largest mental health care problem in the world
today. The latest government epidemiological data show social
anxiety affects about 7% of the population at any given time.
The lifetime prevalence rate stands slightly above 13%. Social
anxiety disorder may be linked to other mental illnesses, such as
panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and depression.
Even after effecting a lot of the young population, Social anxiety
disorder is not diagnosed often and is just dismissed as shyness.
So should educational institutes, whom young adults spend most
of their time with, recognize this disorder when it first shows up
like ADHD or dyslexia?

Chapter II Literature review

Article 1
Title What is it like to live with Social Anxiety?
Author Thomas A Richards, Ph.D.
This article by Thomas A Richards, a Psychologist and the
Director of Social Anxiety Institute, talks about the lives of
people with Social Anxiety Disorder. It starts of with how they
feel on a daily basis, how this is different from what people who
dont suffer from this disorder feel and why they generally dont
admit they have a problem. The article then moves on to
describe various everyday situations that people with this
disorder struggle with and how, with a full description of the
persons thought process. It mentions how the persons behavior
changes according to the situation and the people around. After
this it states facts about the disorder and then concludes with
ways the disorder can be treated.
For most of the part, the article does a pretty good job of helping
the reader step into the shoes of a person with Social Anxiety
Disorder and experience everything they go through from they
way they think to the way they feel. It bluntly showcases normal
scenarios where overthinking, fear and anxiety cause the person
to create problems for one where they didnt exist. It also
addresses the acceptance issues that usually cause affected
people to isolate themselves from people. The article tries to
gain the readers sympathy and create awareness towards Social
Anxiety Disorder.
It also emphasizes a very important part of ones life that this
disorder affects the professional life. Not being able to
communicate with authorities and people considered superior
could lead to hindering of professional and personal
development. It also educates the reader that the people with this
disorder arent ignorant or irrational people. They know very
well that the fears are irrational yet they arent able to act on it
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and shake the feeling of being analyzed and judged by people

around them.
The article also sheds light on how little society and even
professionals such as doctors, psychologists, therapists and
health care professionals know about this disorder even though
it affects a considerable amount of people in the world. This
shows that even if the affected person was willing to look for
help the chances of him finding it are very slim.
Also being a deep psychological problem, Social Anxiety
Disorder does not just go away in a few days. It is a disorder
that is very hard to treat due to it being misdiagnosed most of
the time but it is still possible. A cognitive-behavioral technique
works best in getting rid of the disorder in the long run. The
article beautifully concludes by giving hope to people suffering
from this disorder and reassures them that life can get better
with help.

Article 2
Title - Social Anxiety Disorder and the risk of Depression
Authors Murray B. Stein, MD; Martina Fuetsch, MagRerNat;
Nina Muller, DiplPsych; Michael Hofler, DiplStat; Roselind
Lieb, PhD; Hans-Ulrich Wittchen, PhD
Prior to the writing of this article a study was conducted to
determine if Social Anxiety Disorder and Depression were
somehow linked to each other. Data was collected from
adolescents and young adults and it was concluded that Social
Anxiety disorder is an important predictor of depressive
disorders.
The article talks about the relation between Social Anxiety
Disorder and depressive disorders. It states that Social Anxiety
Disorder is the most common disorder existing simultaneously
with Depressive disorders. It generally precedes it by a few
years. The article makes a very important point that if Social
Anxiety Disorder could be detected at a early stage in life and
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treated it could drastically reduce the chances of the person

developing a depressive disorder later in life. Also it suggests
using the extent of Social Anxiety Disorder to determine the
severity of the subsequent depressive disorder. But how are the
two related? It is further explained that social anxious teens are
more likely to develop self esteem issues that lesser social
anxious teens. Also these teens tend to isolate themselves and
dont make a lot of friends. This low self-esteem and isolation in
a few years grows into depression. The article ends with stating
that if Social Anxiety Disorder could be treated at an early stage
it would reduce the possibility of depression which would help
deal with a huge social issue Suicide.

Article 3
Title - Social anxiety disorder goes beyond occasional
nervousness
Author - Stephen Whiteside, Ph.D., Psychology
This article by Stephen Whiteside tries to differentiate between
people who experience shyness and nervousness and people
who suffer from Social anxiety disorder. It is very informative
and clearly states the symptoms of Social anxiety disorder and
how many of the symptoms must be present to differentiate
between shyness and Social anxiety disorder. People affected by
Social anxiety disorder are not just nervous in certain situations
but feel like they are being watched and judged constantly. They
are terrified of interactions, which end up hindering their day-today functioning. Fear of judgment, embarrassment and anxiety
are few major symptoms. The article also enlightens the reader
about other symptoms of Social anxiety disorder like sweating,
heart palpitation, blushing, confusion, clammy hands and
trembling due to fear and anxiety.
It sets an even more intense tone by talking about how it impacts
self-esteem and social skills.

To lighten up the mood the article mentions the way Social

anxiety disorder can be treated through cognitive-behavioral
therapy and how. The article concludes with providing coping
methods to deal with Social anxiety disorder.

Chapter III Methodology

1. Understand the problems faced by people who experience
social anxiety disorder through research.
2. Assessing how many people are affected by this disorder
through questionnaires and secondary research.
3. Find out how this disorder has affected academic life.
4. Step that can be taken to help students deal with this
disorder.
5. Based on the research provide argument on why educational
institutes should take efforts recognizing and helping
students deal with this disorder.

Objectives
To determine whether educational institutes should identify
social anxiety disorders (SAD) in their students and take active
part in treating this disorder. Also to determine how much
people actually know and relate to about this disorder around us.

Hypothesis
I would like to show that social anxiety disorder is just as
serious as other issues recognized by educational institutes like
dyslexia and ADHD as it hinder the growth and development of
a student and that these institute should take step to identify and
help students deal with this disorder.

Research Design
The research design applied is cross-sectional study, which is a
type of observational study that involves the analysis of data,
collected from a population, or a representative subset, at one
specific point of time. Here the data collected from the public
with the help of a questionnaire within a particular span of time
is analyzed.

Tools
1. Questionnaire
2. Observation Techniques

Source of data
Primary
The primary data was collected using questionnaires and by
general interaction with people.

Secondary
Secondary data was collected by reading research papers, books
and various online articles.

Chapter IV - Data analysis

Figure No. 1

Figure No. 2

Figure No. 3

Figure No. 4

Figure No. 5

Figure No. 6

Figure No. 7

Figure No. 8

Figure No. 9

Figure No. 10

Figure No. 11

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Figure No. 12

Figure No. 13

Figure No. 14

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Figure No. 15

Chapter V Findings
After a close analysis of the compiled responses from the
questionnaire it can be said that a lot of people think they know
about what social anxiety disorder is. The questionnaire also
helps differentiate between those who experience occasional
shyness and those who actually suffer from social anxiety
disorder as quite often SAD is confused with shyness. Also
given the response to the if you know anyone suffering from
this disorder? question (figure no. 13) we can state that quite a
number of young adults suffer from this disorder. Also after
analyzing the justifications its clear that a lot of people arent
aware of the vast research done on the subject or the treatment
available. Also combining the results of the questionnaire with
the secondary research it can be stated that educational
institution should identify social anxiety disorder. A student
spends most of his/her time in educational institutions and most
of their social interactions take place here, so just like ADHD or
dyslexia is identified, Social anxiety disorder should also be
looked out for so that the student can receive treatment on time
before it severally impacts their life. Also it has been found that
young adults suffering from this disorder tend suffer from
chronic depression later in life.
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Chapter VI Conclusion
As stated in Chapter V educational institutes should take up a
role in identifying students suffering from Social anxiety
disorder. This will not only help them contribute better to
society but also as SAD is one of the leading causes of chronic
depression in adults and people suffering from it tend to become
suicidal, it will help lower the suicide rates and help in
improving the general well being of the society as a whole.

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