Children and adolescents with social phobia; They have a distinct and persistent fear of encountering unfamiliar people, or of being under the eye of others, or of performing one or more social or performing activities. The child/adolescent fears (or shows signs of anxiety) that he/she will behave in a way that will make him/her feel humiliated or embarrassed. In order to diagnose social phobia, this anxiety in children must also be seen in environments where they encounter their peers. Social phobia in children; It can be expressed as anxiety, crying, being moody, freezing, or avoiding social situations with unfamiliar people. Although it is not common at a young age, children and adolescents usually know that their fears are excessive and meaningless. Children and adolescents with social phobia avoid feared social or action situations or endure them with intense anxiety or distress. In order to diagnose social phobia, the findings must continue for at least 6 months. The individual's avoidance, anxious anticipation, or distress in the feared social or action situations disrupts the individual's normal daily tasks, professional and/or educational functionality, social activities or relationships, or causes significant distress related to the phobia.
The prevalence of social phobia in close relatives of children with social phobia is 3 times higher. Chronic family conflicts, separations, losses, difficulties in learning and school success, overprotective attitude towards children, constantly warning the child to behave in harmony, approving every behavior of the child (not facing critical guidance), failure to teach how to deal with social environments are also causes of social phobia. It poses a significant risk.
The prevalence of social phobia is 1% in children and 5-10 in adolescents. It is twice as common in girls than in boys. The emergence period is generally early-middle adolescence.
In social environments; Vegetative symptoms such as flushing, chills, heart palpitations, shaking hands, sweating, headache, dizziness, shortness of breath, abdominal pain, nausea and the need to urinate may be observed. The need to avoid and escape affects the person. enough g They cannot establish self-contact or are reluctant to establish self-contact. They cannot speak in social environments and become inhibited. Social phobia can also occur in the form of tantrums in children and adults.
45% of social phobia has a chronic course. When the childhood of adults with social phobia was evaluated, it was found that approximately 50% had a history of social phobia. If not treated, a decrease in school success, school phobia, avoidance of age-specific social activities, feeling inadequate in social environments, lack of self-confidence, somatoform disorder symptoms, depression and suicide attempts may occur. Early onset of social phobia, co-existence of other mood disorders such as depression, anxiety disorders and alcohol/substance addiction are negative factors for the prognosis.
In the treatment of social phobia;
1.psychopharmacological support
2. Providing social skills to the child
3. Providing cognitive restructuring in children and adolescents
4. Acquiring skills to cope with anxiety
5. Addressing anxiety-increasing attitudes within the family
6. Not applying too protective attitudes in raising children and adolescents
7. It is important to ensure that parents with anxiety disorders also receive support.
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