Social Phobia

Social Phobia (DSM code 300.23)
Marked and persistent fear of one or more social or performance situations
involving exposure to unfamiliar people or to possible scrutiny by others; individual
fears that he or she will act in a way (or show anxiety symptoms) that will
be humiliating or embarrassing
In children, evidence requires the capacity for age-appropriate social relationships
with familiar people and anxiety must occur in peer settings, not just
in interactions with adults
Exposure to feared social situation almost invariably provokes anxiety,
which may take the form of situationally bound or situationally predisposed
panic attack; in children, anxiety may be expressed by crying, tantrums, freezing,
or shrinking from social situations with unfamiliar people
Person recognizes fear as excessive or unreasonable; in children, this feature
may be absent
Feared social or performance situations avoided or endured with intense
anxiety or distress
Avoidance, anxious anticipation, or distress in feared social or performance
situation(s) interferes significantly with normal routines, occupational
(academic) functioning, or social activities or relationships, or marked distress
about phobia present
In individuals under age eighteen, duration of at least six months
Fear or avoidance not due to direct physiological effects of a substance or
general medical condition
Not better accounted for by another mental disorder such as Panic Disorder
with or Without Agoraphobia, Separation Anxiety Disorder, Body Dysmorphic
Disorder, a Pervasive Developmental Disorder, or Schizoid Personality
Disorder
If general medical condition or another mental disorder present, fear unrelated
to it
Specify if Generalized (fears include most social situations)