Social Anxiety Disorder

Social Anxiety Disorder

Chandra’s Story:
Chandra is an 11-year-old girl who has always been a shy. Although she has generally done well in school, this past year her grades have dropped and she has become more irritable and withdrawn. At school, Chandra sits with two girls at lunch, but rarely talks to other children. She refuses to go to gym class, and worries that she will do something stupid if she participates in physical activities. Chandra said that some girls at school have teased her. She has missed two field trips due to stomach aches, and is avoiding after-school activities. She says she doesn't like playing with kids from school and prefers to play with her younger sister. Chandra has trouble making eye and often mumbles. She feels doesn't know what to say to other kids, and can’t make friends.


"Social Anxiety" is the excessive fear of rejection or criticism in social situations.

•Affects about 1% of children (Visions)
•Affects boys and girls equally (Anxiety BC)
•It can develop suddenly or gradually.
Social Anxiety can develop suddenly as the result of a particularly stressful or humiliating social experience, or more slowly over a longer period of time (Anxiety BC)
•Remember: Lot's of children exhibit shyness or social anxiety in ways that could be developmentally, situational, temperamentally or culturally appropriate. To be an anxiety disorder that fear has to be consistently and severely limiting that child's ability to participate in the activities most other children are able to achieve.

Two main types:
•"Performance based" anxiety is when children feel they are being observed by others. An intense fear o scrutiny and evaluation by peers or authority figures like teachers, even in situations where evaluation is not taking place (Anxiety Association of Canada). This manifests in different ways: Some children could have a fear of reading aloud, public speaking and presenting, writing in front of a group

•"Interaction based" anxiety when are anxious in situations where they are interacting and developing social relationships with others.




Teachers should be concerned if a child:
•Exhibits intense repeated fear concerning social performance situations, conversations with peers or teachers, speaking in front of the class, particularly fear is limiting or interfering with their participation in normal activities
•Continues to avoid certain social activities for a period of several weeks. This includes peer oriented activities like gym, recess, or lunch in the cafeteria.
•Has few or no friends
•Avoids eye contact and mumbles or speaks very quietly and seems uncomfortable. Other children are more likely to reject a child who behaves this way, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, leading to more withdrawal and anxiety
•Is frequently absent. If a child is frequently absent or "sick" when particular activities like field trips or group activities are occurring then it is cause for concern.
•Anxiously anticipates change. Older children are typically able to deal with changes in routine, and introductions to new people, so excessive anxiety about these events could indicate a problem
•Expresses negative thoughts about being judged or evaluated, even when he or she is not being evaluated. The child might be overly concerned with others looking at them or talking about them.

(Information for the above comes from Anxiety BC)