Anxiety

DATE: May 02 2008, 12:09 am / MOOD: Mellow

I have always assumed that everyone lived with some level of fear all the time except maybe hired killers, and that it is all just a matter of degree. Social anxiety would be a high level of fear; "normal" people have a relatively low level.

I received a message from the social anxiety institute's mailing list and it included a comment from Dr. Richards who is the director and a former social anxiety sufferer. His findings on the level of fear in "normal" people shocked me, and frankly I have a problem really believing it. I haven't had the chance (probably fear induced lack of chance) to ask any normal people I know what kind of fear they have. If Dr. Richards is correct, it certainly explains why "they" don't understand us SAD people and why we don't understand "them".

I am curious to hear what other social anxiety people think about this subject.

"From Dr. Richards:

A Possible Reason Why it is So Hard for Other People to Understand Social Anxiety...

Recently, I was having a first appointment with a young woman from another state who had social anxiety.  She and her mother had driven to Phoenix to see me.  The diagnostic appointment was moving along fine, when the mother looked at me and said,

"I try so hard to understand what my daughter is saying.  But I've only been afraid two times in my life, and one of those times was when my husband held a knife to my throat and threatened to kill me."

I was floored.  The daughter looked at me with raised eyebrows, we exchanged glances, and I thought to myself: "Can this be real?  This woman has only felt fear twice in her life?"

I asked the mother again if that is what she meant.  She thought about it and said "yes". I was still surprised.

I looked at the daughter and said,  "Well, people with social anxiety feel that level of fear and anxiety almost every day of their lives." The daughter's eyes grew wider and she began shaking her head in agreement.  "Yeah, mom," she said, "didn't you know I felt afraid to do those things every day of my life?"

This incident motivated me to start asking people who did not have social anxiety:  "How many times in your life have you felt really fearful?  Really afraid?  We're not talking about butterflies in the stomach or a slight case of nerves.  We're talking about fearing something."

The answers I received to this question from people who did not have social anxiety surprised me greatly.

The average answer people gave me was about seven times.

I said to people,  "Do you mean you have only felt deeply afraid or fearful seven times in your whole life?" and people would respond affirmatively.

This dumbfounded me, because those of us who have social anxiety are fearful almost every day of our lives if we are engaged in life and have to meet new challenges because of school, work, or other social activities.

Perhaps that is the reason other professionals, including psychologists and medical doctors, do not really understand social anxiety disorder. Not only have they never had it, they have never experienced the depth of the emotional, gut-wrenching fear and dread that occurs on a daily basis.

I could tell you horror stories from my own life, when the fear and dread would overtake my body and brain and I could not function.  I was simply too afraid.

This is the hallmark of social anxiety: the heart-pounding fear and dreadful anticipation of social situations and events (things that other people are simply not bothered by).  People without social anxiety can typically tell you a half dozen instances in their lives when they were really fearful.  Those of us with social anxiety could tell them a half dozen instances in our lives on almost a daily basis that bring on fear.

This is one thing that people without social anxiety do not understand.

A second reason is that they cannot "see" the social anxiety or deeply-felt anxiety and fear in us -- we are very good at not wanting other people to see the fear in us.  We could say we are very good "hiders".  To those of you with social anxiety: More than hope exists for overcoming this traumatic disorder. People can and do overcome social anxiety. We have dozens of people currently at SAI who are in the process of doing this right now.  Don't let anyone tell you that you have to live with social anxiety for the rest of your life.  Don't let anything get in the way of getting better."

Copyright © 2008, The Social Anxiety Institute, Inc.
Thomas A. Richards, Ph.D., Psychologist/Director, SAI

View Entry | Leave A Comment

DATE: Dec 16 2007, 10:31 pm / MOOD: Tired

Full Disclosure: My entire career has been spent working for or representing 3 of the top 100 corporations in the United States. I have been an executive in all three. I am very pro business and pro capitalism. Basically, I am on their side. I have been reading the 5 pages of 3-point font information that drug companies give the pharmacies to give to the patient i.e. about 50% of the size of the font I am using. My experience is that about 25% of the information is given to patients and if I am a reasonable indication, about 0.1% is read. The first sentence of the provided information is: 

Please read this information carefully before you start taking ***** and each time your prescription is refilled in case anything has changed or new information has become available. (In other words, this is all your responsibility, dummy)

 

The efficacy of the drug for one of the two approved uses is shown in graph form from the research data. The efficacy of a placebo is also shown. At 100% efficacy the drug helps about 8% of patients and the placebo about 2% so basically the drug helps about 6% of total patients over a doctor with a good bedside manner. At just noticeable but not significant efficacy, the drug helps about 69% of patients and the placebo helps about 61% or about 8% above a smooth talking doctor. The difference between the drug and placebo stays relatively constant over the range from 0 to 100% improvement.

 The primary purpose of the drug is reduction of depression and anxiety. For both of these maladies, four tests at different dosage levels were made in comparison to a placebo. About 200 people started each of these tests split 50-50 between the drug and placebo. No further data is given. The test results were “In all cases ****** demonstrated superiority over placebo by scale selected. Level above @@@@ did not show additional improvement.” Come on, guys, 0.1% would be demonstrated superiority. I understand the FDA usually requires 4% better than placebo. The remaining 4 pages are devoted to concerns over taking the medication and negative side effects experienced during the tests. Many of these side effects are more efficacious for the drug than the positive effects are. You have placed the responsibility on me for deciding if this drug is appropriate for me. I will do this with the help of a doctor who has no knowledge of the drug except what your non-medical salespeople have told him/her over a free lunch for him/her and their staff. How many of those doctors have even read the crap that I just read?   Come on guys. I am on your side and I think you are doing a crappy job. Until the medical profession gets in the 21 century-actually I would be thrilled to see it in the 20^th century-we are going to continue to have unacceptable costs and unacceptable patient outcomes in this country and around the world. With the technology available today, we have the most awesome potential for providing outstanding medical care for everyone who will take advantage of it at affordable prices. Put your big boy pants on and get rid of your glass stomach. It is time we looked ahead with a clear view at what we can do and stop all the procrastination and whining.   You are running the risk of catching Congress in competence and efficiency. You apparently already have caught them in concern for your own personal welfare and disregard for your clientele.  

My apologizes to the dedicated medical professionals who are truly concerned about their patients and are trying to achieve the highest degree of proficiency that is possible. My congratulations to the management of corporations who have recognized this problem and are proposing standards for medical performance even though those proposed levels are still very low. There are many good people in medicine. We just need to let the good inmates run the nuthouse. There are even 10 or 15 politicians who are also working in the right direction. Most of them could not give a damn as long as they come out ahead, and I don’t care what party you look at.  

 

If you see in any given situation only what everybody else can see, you can be said to be so much a representative of your culture that you are a victim of it.
S. I. Hayakawa

View Entry | Leave A Comment