Social anxiety disorder is the fear of the close observation by other people in comparatively small groups (but not in crowds) and eventually lead to the fact that social situations are avoided or endured only under intense fear. Social anxiety disorder is a permanent, unreasonable fear of situations in which persons with SAD have to do with other people and are thus are exposed to a possible review by others. There are unreasonably strong fears of social situations or performance situations in which the person with SAD is the focus of attention of others and is afraid to do something that would be humiliating or embarrassing.
People with Social anxiety disorder fear failure, being ridiculous or unpleasant attention. They fear being ridiculed in social situations or being treated with hostility, looking stupid, to lose control, to experience panic and being tongue-tied, so they stand out even more, especially if several symptoms occur.
Social Anxiety Disorder can be either clearly defined and described or indefinite and can occur in almost all social situations outside the family. The diagnosis of Social Anxiety Disorder is confirmed when one person alone can perform activities without fear which he cant perform when other people are present.
A certain amount of social anxiety is normal. Shyness is also not a problem if it is not experienced as stressful. The level of SAD depends on the degree of the experienced disturbance. This is characterized by the anxious avoidance of social contacts.
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