OCD, Social Anxiety Disorder, and Treatment

Recently, I’ve been reading some articles on social anxiety, and it struck me how many of the situations and symptoms reminded me of my son Dan when he was in the throes of severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. Those with social anxiety disorder typically are terrified of how others will perceive them, and this often leads to avoidance of various situations. While public speaking or being the center of attention in any circumstance might be obvious triggers, even something as mundane as having a cup of coffee with an acquaintance might be anxiety-provoking enough for a sufferer to just not show up. Panic attacks are common. In this article, I talk about Dan’s sense of hyper-responsibility, which is an inflated feeling of responsibility. Because he felt his thoughts and actions might cause harm to his friends and loved ones, he dealt with this by avoiding them. He isolated himself, and while his actions could easily have been mistaken for social anxiety disorder, in his case it was his OCD that caused him to behave this way. As with social anxiety disorder, panic attacks were not unusual for him. As is often the case, I am reminded how OCD, social anxiety disorder, depression, and generalized anxiety disorder, among others, are just labels to describe specific symptoms. Labels are a way to try to maintain some order and clarity over the messiness of mental illness. While these labels serve a purpose, I believe our main goal should always be striving to understand what is g...
Source: Psych Central - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Anxiety Disorders Family General Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Parenting Personal Stories Psychology Psychotherapy Treatment Anxiety Disorders Fear Generalized Anxiety Disorder hyper responsibility Panic Disorder Social Anxie Source Type: news