When Did Shyness Become Social Anxiety Disorder?

Shyness is a personality trait. Not a mental illness. Personality traits can be adjusted with practice. Mental illnesses require a lot more to treat like expensive doctor visits and expensive pills. Social anxiety should not be an acceptable label for shy people. It's a diabolical way to impact a shy person's insecurities into believing they have a mental illness, so they'll spend vast amounts of money for treatment.

 

I'm sure there are many misdiagnoses as there are with many disorders but they are not the same thing. Where shyness is taking a bit to warm up around those you may be unfamiliar with, social anxiety is experiencing crippling anxiety in social situations, often even being around people you are comfortable with.

 

. Mental illnesses require a lot more to treat like expensive doctor visits and expensive pills.


Probably because of that.....

 

There is absolutely a difference between shyness and social anxiety disorder. Shyness is being like "no I don't wanna talk to that person, I'm shy." Social anxiety is "I was born without the script of normal social cues and functions and I wouldn't know how to say hello to that person if I wanted to."

 

There are gradations in shyness. If a person just have to 'warm up' to other people they're just a bit shy, but when someone is really shy to the point it is obstructing them socially i find social anxiety an appropriate definition. Not sure how useful it is to hang the label disorder onto it or if that is done around here (netherlands). I would not be suprised if it would be done in severe cases. As it technically does become a disorder then.

 

My opinion is that shyness is not necessarily the same as social anxiety and vice-versa. I can appear "shy" sometimes, but it isn't really because I feel anxious in social situations (though I used to). Basically in today's society, anyone who is not an extrovert is seen as being shy. I am not a fan of small-talk and speaking without a reason, so therefore that may be construed by some as being shy. These days there isn't any personality trait that comes without a label and drugs prescribed to go along with it. You cannot prescribe pills for shyness, so therefore it makes sense that anything in the realm of shyness may be labeled in a clinical setting as social anxiety. It simultaneously keeps shrinks and drug companies in business.

 

Today's american society (and maybe some others). I don't think it's global. Here it's also far less of an issue (and not because there's a shortage of shy or introvert people )

 

This reminded me of an article I read about why children in France have far fewer cases of adhd. I found a link for it if anyone is interested: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/suffer-the-children/201203/why-french-kids-dont-have-adhd

 

I've always been painfully shy to the point where I guess I could easily be labeled as having a life long social anxiety disorder. So I guess the 2 can be used interchangeably but I generally agree with the notion that it is easier for the medical community to deal with (i.e over medicate) someone who is labelled as having a disorder rather than a plain ol shy person.

I am grateful I grew up in a time where shy was just shy because I learned to deal with the problem on my own, so well no one really thinks of me as a shy person even though I very much still am. I think if I grew up nowadays I would have had some weird diagnosis stuck on me -anxiety disorder, maybe even autism considering I went entire days without speaking to my classmates in early elementary school - and forced to do some kind of treatment. But instead it was just shy and I learned to deal with it without medication or expensive and unnecessary psychotherapy.

 

Im going to take a top down approach and say that all psychology all mental illness is bullshit

Has there been a single person that has been 'cured' from an anxiety disorder...ever in the history of man?

Most small mammals are more twitchy and nervous than their bigger counterparts, thats just survival instinct

Its always just context

If everyone had schizophrenia, there wouldnt be a word for it, no one would require treatment to get back to 'normal'

 

I'm quite aware that people do have anxiety issues, and I think cognitive behavior therapy can come a long way for those sorts of people. But it sounds to me like those examples can be very situational. Some people accused me of being shy when I was just very nervous to talk to certain people I tried very hard to impress like potential employers and girls I've been crushing on out of fear they'd judge me negatively. Other times I'm just in a cranky mood and I don't feel like talkin' to anybody. There are some days I feel shy, but over all I am not a shy person. There are some people out there who are shy because they are just reserved and keep to themselves, other people are shy 'cause they've got insecurity problems.

Of all the people I've known who had social anxiety problems were like that just because they were constantly anxious all the time.

 

It's definitley overdiagnosed. It doesn't help that pharmaceutical companies constantly make commercials for prescription drugs that target people's insecurities of their social behaviors. You know those "Ask your doctor about ______," commercials? People come rushing to their doctors to try to get prescribed for pills most doctors won't recommend for their patients based on their medical records. Yet at the same time some corporations give doctors kickbacks for prescribing certain medications. It's no wonder 2/3 of the people on anti-depressants don't meet the criteria of chronic depression.

Wouldn't it be better evaluate the problem with sound advice, counseling, and therapy techniques rather than throwing pills at it as a band-aid solution?

I can be shy and tense in certain social situations like I've already mentioned, and I think a lot of people are the same. I think I can say most people have situational shyness. But that doesn't mean they've got social anxiety disorder. I think it's bad to give people labels like this. These labels that experts give their patients can materialize into a placebo affect that causes them to have limiting beliefs about themselves.

I agree completely.

 

Great read! One thing I've learned after being medicated for several years is ADHD really stands for Another Doctor Handing-out Drugs.

 

i haven't noticed the ask your doctor commercials mentioning social behaviors. usually it's just something super vague like "could you maybe feel a little better sometimes?"

there are a ton of commercials for drugs that target people's insecurities of their social behaviors, but they're put out by budweiser and friends.

 

Good points however a factor from the patient side of things is that those who actually have legitimate disorders, overwhelmingly mention that having a name attached to their condition is a beneficial thing. So there are some nuances beyond the money aspect to take into consideration and even for a good intentioned doctor it's probably difficult to discern the condition in certain circumstances, particularly if you are just going by the patient mentioning his or her symptoms.

 

When Did Shyness Become Social Anxiety Disorder?
April 27th, 1987, at 2:43 AM


at least that's what I heard.

 

Yes. I was diagnosed with adhd as a kid. I do think I legitimately had it and it was hepful to me that my teachers knew and understood, but I don't think the medication I was given helped at all.

 

No shortage of adhd labeled kids around here either btw! There's a fair amount who ditch the ritalin and smoke pot Not that bad on itself it seems. Unfortunately a disproportionate amount of them lack discipline though and tend to over indulge. Just my experience!

 

I've done a fair bit of research into the effectiveness of preschool because I have one, well preschool aged anyways but I've decided against enroll ing him in preschool - the general consensus appears to be that a rigid, disciplined approach to learning at a young age actually hinders learning because young children learn best through free play

Which makes me wonder if focusing on a more disciplined learning technique at such a young age could have a direct contribution on ADHD rates. It has also been shown that children with ADHD respond well to classroom settings in which they are frequently allowed to move.

I personally don't believe in ADHD, I just think it is the result of one size fits all learning. Children are meant to move, to be tactile, to explore. If you take all that away from them it isn't really much of a shocker that some have issues with sitting still and paying attention

 

Over the years, a lot of people in various situations have thought me to be shy, because I knew I didn't fit in, and I stopped trying. I had no desire to conform to their expectations, and I could stay out of trouble by keeping my mouth shut. Even now, when I'm around a lot of conservative business people, I don't talk about anything except business.

The best evidence of it is in scans of brain activity. Wake Forest University (Bowman Gray School of Medicine) pioneered that research about 10 or 15 years ago.

There's no big money in treating ADD anymore, since Adderall has gone generic. Mine costs me $5 a month. The side effects are almost nothing, except that it's one of the best weight loss drugs on the planet.