Cultural Impact on Diagnosis and Treatment of Social Phobia

Social phobia (also referred to as social anxiety disorder) is an anxiety disorder where a victim exhibits unreasonable and excessive fear regarding social situations. The anxiety emanates from innate fears that people in the society are closely monitoring personal development ( Halford and Foddy 19). Thus, people become self-conscious of being criticized or judged by others. In light of this, a determination of cultural influence on the treatment and diagnosis of socio phobia is crucial.

Diagnosis

Doctors evaluate people showing social anxiety symptoms by asking questions on their medical history. In addition, a physical examination is performed to determine causative factors of the disorder. Currently, there are no laboratory tests for specific diagnosis. However, doctors can conduct multiple tests to prove that a particular form of physical illness is not behind the observed symptoms.

An absence of physical illness prompts a patient’s reference to a mental health specialist. Psychologists and psychiatrists, for instance, possess the necessary skills to treat and diagnose different forms of mental illnesses. Therefore, they shall conduct specialized interviews using assessment tools for evaluation of a suffering individual.  Doctors base their diagnosis on the reports of symptom's duration and intensity (Hofmann et al. 169). It is a doctors' task to determine if the extent of dysfunction and the prevalent symptoms reflects a social anxiety disorder (SAD). 

Impact of Culture

For many years, cultural factors have been linked closely to social anxiety disorder. In a modern society, there is a negative attitude towards avoidance and shyness. Such an attitude wields a greater effect on the formation of a working relationship, access to education, and sourcing for job opportunities. Besides, people with social phobia are often considered as a source of shame to family and friends.

Parenting

Studies indicate that culture shapes the parenting methods. As such, the effects of parenting fluctuate as per the cultural setting.  For instance, Children brought up in the United States are more likely to develop social phobia if their parents or guardians emphasize on the opinions of others. Even worse, chances of a social phobia disorder are heightened if parents use shame as a one of the strategies to discipline a child. 

On the other hand, Chinese children are less likely to develop anxiety disorders because of good parenting strategies and old cultural values. Ironically, shyness is acceptable in China as one of leadership and competency traits. In fact, Chinese authorities consider shy individuals for government leadership positions. Experts argue that China’s one-child policy eliminated chances of SAD among children because parental care is concentrated on a lone child, hence arresting cases of disorders at an early stage.

Competition

Hardships endured during the development of social skill can trigger sociophobia. If an individual lacks self-confidence or has no ability to engage in social interaction with peers, gaining acceptance is unattainable. Studies on cultural effects on social fluency harbor mixed outcomes, with some unearthing issues in social skills (Hofmann et al. 1123). However, what is actually clear is that despite the cultural effect, individuals that are socially anxious undermine their social skills.  There is a sufficient reason to believe that the skyrocketing social anxiety issues emanate from a cultural emphasis on competitiveness and assertiveness.  The modern society is shifting towards sophistication of social skills hence overshadowing weak personalities. As the societal spotlight dims on those in need of psychological attention, complications arise and culminate in the multiplication of SAD cases.

Media’s cultural impact cannot be understated -- Western media outlets emphasize attractive or normal personal traits hence fueling inferiority complex and perfectionism among the youth. Diagnosis and treatment of the resultant disorders is shelved as insecurity sets in. This is because of external evaluation and judgment.

In America alone, social anxiety disorder affects an upwards of 15 million adults.  Both males and females have equal chances of developing the disorder. In the developing world, social phobia is more pronounced in women than in men because females are subjects of socio-cultural malpractices. Initial signs of social anxiety disorder are reported during early adolescence or childhood.  As a culture of substance abuse and medical prescription takes a toll, proper diagnosis and treatment of anxiety disorders become harder.

Individualism and Collectivism

In the western world, people strive to live beyond their means. Capitalism dictates that people should strive to keep up with the pace of others to become successful. In fact, success in western culture is measured in monetary value. Intriguingly, the shared values are either individualistic or collectivistic as per ancestral origins (Oyserman et al. 3).  Such skewed values have found a loophole in the medical system thus clouding judgments made by medical professionals. Medical institutions are supposed to be a haven for patients suffering from SAD. Instead, the diagnosis is flawed and inadequate to reverse the condition of mental disorder patients. It is notable that psychiatric specialists—though adequately trained to tackle mental disorders—are vulnerable to crooked culture shunning of those in need of medical attention. 

Most patients are unable to break from sociophobia vicious cycle because the individualistic traits possessed by medics and caregivers escalate the situation rather than containment. In fact, they instill a sense of hopelessness to the patient on recovery. Eventually, victims of SAD view their conditions as a new normal (Way et al. 209). The set precedence will affect many generations of young people unless a permanent solution is obtained. It calls for a renewed effort by the government agencies and other relevant authorities to educate the public on proper parenting steps and the effects of stigmatization to the affected people. If medical and cultural agencies can consider the recommendations and implement them accordingly, cases of SAD in the West will drop drastically.

Social anxiety results from an individual's inability to predict or to control the turn of upcoming events.  A thought on lacking control is enough to spark negative memories. In a non-conducive cultural environment, the fears are propelled to a new high especially among young adults. Normalizing the situation through medical prescriptions will be a daunting task, considering the lack of a personal touch and a show of empathy.

Adults in a modern society equate their day-to-day activities to success. Competition among peers is common .Those that cannot meet their goals plunge deeper into a depression that can result in a myriad of mental disorders like social phobia. In such a situation, friends and families are unhelpful: they offer little sound advice and assistance to people suffering from a mental disorder. In fact, many do not understand the needs of SAD patients, not even the well-trained medical practitioners. In addition to these hardships, there are multiples of cultural barriers that discourage sufferers from revealing their condition.

Stigmatization

Mid- aged adults fear that a revelation of their condition may result in stigmatization. Therefore, most of them opt for prescribed medical solutions such as anti-depressants and other psychiatric drugs. Given the lethality of the side effects from prolonged use of such powerful drugs, some SAD patients face a threat of committing suicide or total withdrawal from the societal activities. While SAD is not contagious, children look up to their parents for guidance. Therefore, a child whose parent is suffering from sociophobia is likely to be affected by depression as well. The recurrences of disorders are avertable if the patients are viewed from a different angle (Kuo et al. 471). A culture of selflessness should be discarded and its place replaced by collective concern for each other.

            The most likely cause of social phobia among teenagers is a deeply settled desire to be successful. They derive their motivation from constant achievements. What they do not realize is that personal conditioning for achievement will be a source of discontent, heartbreak, and a waning sense of belonging in case of an absolute failure. Years of individualistic thoughts and stances cannot allow such people to seek medical assistance. When they do, they hardly get contented with the process of diagnosis, thus they may quit before the extensive interviews and evaluation sessions are over. As if not enough, many educated adults in America feel humiliated when they are being diagnosed. Association of anxiety disorders with incompetence, weakness and failure complicates the recovery process among youthful women.  It is hard for them to come to terms with the reality, even after periodic proofs that success is not always attainable.

In summary, it is clear that culture affects diagnosis and treatment of social phobia. No age bracket, gender or race is immune to the disorder. Medical experts admit that at times, cultural aspects cloud the judgment of mental specialists and other medical professionals. As such, efforts should be beefed up to address the anomalies and restore public trust on medical institutions.

References

Halford, Kim, and M. Foddy. "Cognitive and social skills correlates of social anxiety." British Journal of Clinical Psychology 21.1 (1982): 17-28.

Hofmann, Stefan G., Anu Asnaani, and Devon E. Hinton. "Cultural aspects in social anxiety and social anxiety disorder." Depression and anxiety 27.12 (2010): 1117-1127.

Hofmann, Stefan G., et al. "The effect of mindfulness-based therapy on anxiety and depression: A meta-analytic review." Journal of consulting and clinical psychology 78.2 (2010): 169.

Kuo, Janice R., et al. "Childhood trauma and current psychological functioning in adults with social anxiety disorder." Journal of Anxiety Disorders 25.4 (2011): 467-473.

Oyserman, Daphna, Heather M. Coon, and Markus Kemmelmeier. "Rethinking individualism and collectivism: evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta-analyses." Psychological bulletin 128.1 (2002): 3.

Way, Baldwin M., and Matthew D. Lieberman. "Is there a genetic contribution to cultural differences? Collectivism, individualism and genetic markers of social sensitivity." Social cognitive and affective neuroscience 5.2-3 (2010): 203-211.