I found this article today and I find it interesting to see historically how social anxiety has progressed over the years. I was born in the 70′s and just like Sydney I had experienced the horrors of social anxiety disorder as well as severe separation anxiety. I find it interesting that in my formative years the whole concept of social anxiety was in the midst of becoming more mainstream and understood as a condition.
1968: In the second edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-II), published by the American Psychiatric Association, social fears were described as a specific phobia of social situations or an excessive fear of being observed or scrutinized by others. At this point in history, the definition of social phobia was very narrow.
• 1980: In the third edition of the DSM (DSM-III), social phobia was included as an official psychiatric diagnosis. In this edition, social phobia was described as a fear of performance situations, and did not include fears of less formal situations such as casual conversations. People with such broad fears were more likely to be diagnosed with avoidant personality disorder (which could not be diagnosed at the same time as social phobia).
As presented in the article, “A brief history of social anxiety disorder”.
By today’s standards what my daughter is experiencing is exactly what I experienced as a child. For me back then there was not the same acceptance of the fact that I needed help. This is why I am hopeful for Sydney’s future. With each blog post, with each meeting with my BAT team, with each step forward hopefully the future of social anxiety will become overcome.
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