Michelle Hennessy – News Reporter
Around 15 million American adults suffer from social anxiety disorder with symptoms that can interfere significantly with daily routines, occupational performance or social life. Thus, making it difficult to complete school, get a job and form relationships.
“The definition of a social anxiety is: anxiety that’s provoked by being in environments where you have to interact and process a lot of information socially at the same time or sometimes it’s even maybe public speaking, that can come under it,” said Julie Liefeld Ph.D. director of Southern’s Counseling Services.
Liefeld said the impact of having social anxiety disorder can have a huge impact on college students.
“When you put someone in a classroom or a group project or in situations where they are forced to contribute or interact and they’re not in their comfort zone, that has a big impact on the student. It could have a giant impact,” said Liefeld. “If you’re afraid to speak or to communicate with people then it’s difficult to be in the classroom environment. The more anxious you are socially the harder it is for you to be in new environments.”
Liefeld goes on to say that 36 percent of people with the disorder will have symptoms for 10 years or more before seeking help. Liefeld believes this statistic has to do with the nature of the disorder.
“Even though you may not be going in to talk to a large group of people, if I asked someone with social anxiety to go to a new psychologist that would provoke anxiety, ‘why would I want to do that?’” said Liefeld.
Though social anxiety can cause people to shy away from social situations and to contribute in classes, Liefeld said it should not be mistaken with being introverted.
“There’s a difference between social anxiety and just being someone who is an introverted person – that’s a personality trait,” said Liefeld. “Perhaps maybe something happened to you in middle school and you got bullied and before that you were naturally extravert, you were outgoing and you didn’t mind participating in class, you could sing on stage, and then something bad happens to you then you develop habits and behaviors and you become afraid.”
The amount of people suffering from the disorder doesn’t surprise SCSU student Raul Ramos.
“I know lots of people who are insecure about what others think of them. In a way, we all kind of feel insecure with people that we don’t know, although for most of us is not a problem that affects our daily life,” said Ramos.
Business student Andreas Nagel said he too understands how the number of people with the disorder has gone up in recent years.
“I’m not really surprised by it,” said Nagel. “I think that our modern society and especially our changes in the job market demand a lot of the people and put a lot of stress on them. You sometimes have the kind of feeling you have to fulfill certain requirements or to always be the best, in order to get a better job and this makes people judge themselves if they fail.”
He said one of the biggest reasons more people don’t get help sooner is because they don’t realize the possibilities to treat the disorder.
“I think social anxiety is the result of a long development of the feeling of being permanently inferior towards others, or to have always the fear of failing and this makes the persons adapt to their role in society. I think that people with social anxiety don’t really realize that it’s their kind of behavior that brings them lots of disadvantages in life,” said Nagel.
Liefeld said Southern’s Counseling Services is seeing more and more students suffer from anxiety and puts on programs, group activities, and counseling to help students who are struggling.
“We do see a considerable amount of students with it and national data indicates that students are very anxious in general and that has to do with some developmental changes that have happened to the millennial generation,” said Liefeld. “They’re coming in younger and they’re feeling anxious about this brand new country called college. We do treat a lot of anxiety and a lot of depression here.”
