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Social Phobia - Social Phobia Symptom, Cause, Treatment
Social Phobia
- The patient strongly, repeatedly fears at least one social or performance situation that involves facing strangers or being watched by others. The patient specifically fears showing anxiety symptoms or behaving in some other way that will be embarrassing or humiliating.
- The phobic stimulus almost always causes anxiety, which may be a cued or situationally predisposed panic attack.
- The patient realizes that this fear is unreasonable or out of proportion.
- The patient either avoids the situation or endures it with severe distress or anxiety.*
- Either there is marked distress about having the phobia or it markedly interferes with the patient's usual routines or social, job or personal functioning.
- Patients under the age of 18 must have the symptoms for 6 months or longer.
- The symptoms are not better explained by a different mental disorder, including Anxiety Disorders, Dysmorphic Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Schizoid Personality Disorder.
- The symptoms are not directly caused by a general medical condition or by substance use, including medications and drugs of abuse.
- If the patient has another mental disorder or a general medical condition, the phobia is not related to it.
Specify whether Generalized. The patient fears most social situations.
Children cannot receive this diagnosis unless they have demonstrated the capacity for social relationships. They anxiety must occur not just with adults, but with peers. They may express the anxiety response by clinging, crying, freezing or withdrawing. They may not recognize that the fear is unreasonable, or out of proportion.
If the Social Phobia is Generalized, evaluate the patient for an Axis II diagnosis of Avoidant Personality Disorder.
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