Sunday, January 7, 2007

Social anxiety disorder: a torturous psychological disease

Any social anxiety has its purpose. Originally its purpose was to protect the life of the primitive man against wild animal and furious neighbors. At present the list of reasons is very long: modern people are afraid to lose in competition, to feel unwelcome, isolated or separated from other people... But the purpose of anxiety is still a protection against dangers which threaten our existence or values. We just can't simply avoid this "normal" anxiety - if only by means of freezing our feelings and imagination and becoming totally apathetic.

Social anxiety is omnipresent. It makes us realize that we belong to existence resisting to nonexistence. Nonexistence comprises all that destroys our life: death, heavy illness, human animosities, sudden changes to the worst. In any case social anxiety is the reaction of a person to hostile factor that threaten or may threaten his safe existence.

After this philosophical introduction we are turning to social anxiety disorder itself.

Social anxiety disorder is the third largest psychological problem in the world today. Millions of people all over the world suffer from this devastating and traumatic disease every day. Unlike any other psychological disease, social anxiety disorder is not well understood by the general public or by medical and mental health care professionals, and people who in fact suffer from social anxiety disorder are misdiagnosed almost 90% of the time as the fact itself is not easily established. One thing that all socially anxious people share is the knowledge that their thoughts and fears are basically irrational. That is to say they know that others are really not critically judging or evaluating them all the time and they understand that people are not trying to embarrass or humiliate them. But despite this rational knowledge they still continue to feel differently. Without treatment social anxiety disorder is a torturous psychological disease and a horrible emotional problem. This blog is dedicated to those who desperately strive to escape and finally get rid of their social fears and anxieties.

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