Social Anxiety Disorder Paper

Studying Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) or in others words, social phobia, is extremely important because like other mental disorders, it should be taken seriously. SAD is the third most common mental health disorder in the United States and it affects women more than men (NCBI). SAD research will help us learn more about the effects of SAD, and with enough knowledge it will help to find effective ways of treatment. A person with SAD usually has the fear of being judged or evaluated negatively by other people, leading to feelings of inadequacy, inferiority, embarrassment, humiliation, and depression. It will usually “cause significant impairment in social, occupational or other areas of functioning,” (NCBI). High levels of SAD can lead people to become isolated in …show more content…
Social anxiety can lead to other mental and physiological predicaments, such as depression which is also known for negatively affecting academic performance. Researchers, Christina A. Brook and Teena Willoughby, examined whether social anxiety had an indirect effect on academic performance through the types and amount of social types a student had. Previous studies have shown that “friendship quality or having new best friends in university/college predicted better social and academic outcomes” (Brook & Willoughby 11420). This also correlates with the fact the socially anxious students have poor social skills which can affect their ability to connect with people making hard to create new friendships. The more positive and healthy relationships a person is involved in the more the self-esteem that person has, which can help lead to less social anxiety (Brook & Willoughby 1148). Having a close, healthy, and positive relationship gives students a protective system, where they have support from others during hard times and are less afraid to ask for