What is social phobia? (continued)

Another serious complication of social phobia is that of alcoholism. Alcohol is commonly utilized in an attempt to decrease anxiety and allow the individual to tolerate the feared social situation. In approximately 85% of the people with both social phobia and alcohol abuse, the social phobia preceded the alcohol problem (Jacobson, 2001). Social anxiety makes the treatment of alcoholism more difficult. People with S.A.D. are likely to resist group therapy or self-help meetings like Alcoholics Anonymous. I have to admit that I used alcohol in college when placed into social situations. It allowed me to be relaxed around my peers and to open up to them. I felt like I had no inhibitions and I could really act like myself around others. This is a dangerous situation because you then feel like you need to use alcohol whenever you are around others. Pretty soon you will find yourself being dependant on alcohol and having a major problem on your hands. Don’t fall into this situation because it is hard to get out of. Not only is alcoholism a common complication of social phobia but there are also many co morbid disorders that people may have along with S.A.D. Depression is one such disorder that is very common in persons with S.A.D. Many believe depression is a secondary effect from S.A.D. and that the social anxiety is the cause of it. There are studies that have found that children with social anxiety have more severe kinds of depression, more relapses, more suicidal ideation, and more suicide attempts than depressed people without the co morbid illness. We can’t conclude that social anxiety precedes other illnesses but we can say it is a predictor of future psychiatric illness. Tobacco abuse is yet another serious addiction found in concordance with S.A.D. Kids with social anxiety on average start smoking later than their peers but tend to smoke more and become nicotine dependent more rapidly and more often. As with alcohol, kids may use the nicotine to help relieve anxiety symptoms.