Anxiety
Disorders in Children and Adolescents
Social Anxiety Disorder
Social anxiety disorder, or social phobia, is characterized by an intense fear of social and performance situations. The most commonly feared situations include initiating conversations, unstructured peer activities, performing in front of others, speaking up in class, and inviting others to get together. Avoiding these activities significantly interferes with the quality of children’s lives, often impairing their school performance and attendance, as well as their ability to socialize with peers and develop and maintain relationships.
The onset of social anxiety disorder peaks in adolescence, when establishing and managing friendships independently is a crucial part of healthy development. Untreated, the disorder can persist into adulthood and may increase the risk for depression or alcohol abuse later on.
Parents and teachers may not be aware of the warning signs of social anxiety disorder, or they may not consider extreme shyness a problem warranting professional attention.
Read on for some signs of social anxiety disorder, as well as tips for parents and teachers.
Signs to watch for:
- Hesitance, passivity, and discomfort in the spotlight
- Avoidance or refusal to initiate conversations, perform in front of others, invite friends to get together, telephone others for homework or other information, or order food in restaurants
- Avoiding eye contact
- Speaking very softly or mumbling
- Minimal interaction and conversation with peers
- Appearing isolated or on the fringes of the group
- Sitting alone in the library or cafeteria, or hanging back from a group in team meetings
- Overly concerned with negative evaluation, humiliation, or embarrassment
- Difficulty with public speaking, reading aloud, or being called on in class
When faced with anxiety-producing situations, a child can suffer from these symptoms:
- sweating
- racing heart
- stomachache
- dizziness
- crying
- tantrums
- freezing
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Tips for Parents
- Expose your child to play groups, birthday parties, after-school activities, or other social situations where the child will have opportunities to interact with peers.
- Encourage your child to speak up, such as ordering food in a restaurant. Don’t speak for your child.
- Praise or offer rewards for speaking up. For example, offer a trip to the movies if he or she asks for the tickets at the box office.
- Lead by example. Teach your child by showing how you handle social situations.
Tips for Teachers
- Implement procedures to get socially anxious students more involved, such as calling on them in class.
- Explain to these students beforehand that you want to help them feel more comfortable in class, not more embarrassed.
- Coach them, if necessary, to make sure they know the answers.
- Remind them that speaking up in class will get easier with practice.
- Do not single out a student; call on all of them for answers.
- Incorporate oral presentations into your curriculum to help all your students develop confidence in public speaking.
Tips adapted from Triumph Over Shyness, by Murray B. Stein, MD, and John R. Walker, PhD
Childhood social anxiety disorder may show up other ways:
