So far in this blog series we have discussed Separation Anxiety Disorder (SAD), General Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Panic Attacks, Panic Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Now, let’s talk about Social Phobia, Selective Mutism and Specific Phobia and how they affect children.
Social Phobia – This painful syndrome is characterized by excessive anxiety related to social events or performance situations where there is the fear of exposure or scrutiny by others. There is a fear of anxiety or even panic which would secondarily lead to humiliation or disgrace. The fear can be quite specific such as speaking in class, or become more general where it can lead to widespread avoidance to areas like socializing, group situations, or even speaking to people at school like teachers or friends. It can be quite disabling. In children who have excessive social anxiety it can present as fearfulness with any stranger, having to cling to a parent, or signs of distress in social situations like crying, tantrums, or freezing up.
Selective Mutism – This syndrome is considered to be a severe example of social phobia where the child presents as failing to speak in certain social situations where there is such an expectation such as in school or sometimes simply outside the house. There is full ability to speak and often a child can be heard speaking well and loudly to a parent (such as in the waiting room of my office only to go mute upon entering my consulting room). This diagnosis is made after other psychiatric syndromes are ruled out which might interfere with speaking such as autism or language/speech/communication disorders.
Specific Phobia – A phobia is a marked and repetitive fear which is stimulated by a situation or object. It is unreasonable, irrational, and is usually recognized as such except in younger children. When exposed to the phobic stimulus there can be great anxiety, possibly a panic attack, crying, a frozen look, tantrums, and excessive clinging. There are literally thousands of phobias described, but the more common ones are of animals, storms, heights, blood, medical procedures, elevators, airplanes, tunnels, insects, or getting an injury.
DISCLAIMER
Information contained in this blog is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended as medical or psychiatric advice for individual conditions or treatment and does not substitute for a medical or psychiatric examination. A psychiatrist must make a determination about any treatment or prescription. Dr. Paul does not assume any responsibility or risk for the use of any information contained within this blog.
