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Social Anxiety
Disorder
By Jean Jeffers, Staff Writer
Joel was reading the newspaper
one evening when he began sweating profusely, having palpitations
(irregular heart rhythm) and intense
fear. Sure that something serious was
the cause of his plight, he went to the
emergency room, where extensive
testing led only to a diagnosis of panic
attack.
“Panic attacks,” says Daniel
Watson, MSW, LISW, “are one of
a group of conditions classified as
Social Anxiety Disorders.” Other
types listed under Anxiety Disorder
include Social Phobia, Obsessive
Compulsive Disorder, Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder, Generalized Anxiety
Disorder, and those which we discuss
here.
A panic attack, Watson explains, is
a bodily response combined with fear.
Certain symptoms predominate, such
as shortness of breath, shaking, choking, chest pain, tingling or numbness,
nausea, and feeling unreal. Many such
clients believe they are dying or going
crazy, so severe are their symptoms.
Panic attacks, while occurring in
varying degrees in different anxiety
states, are most associated with panic
disorder. It is thought to be based on
the “Fight or Flight” syndrome, an
automatic system in all of us, which
serves to protect us. If we think there
is a danger, we will run or stay and
fight for survival.
“The central characteristic of panic
disorder is that of having distinct
episodes of intense
anxiety which
develop ́