What causes Social Anxiety Disorder?

The exact cause of Social Anxiety Disorder is under investigation. Like many other emotional disturbances, Social Anxiety Disorder is a complex issue with many possible contributing factors. The following are several theories regarding the causes of Social Anxiety Disorder.

Genetic predisposition

Just as physical features such as hair and eye color are inherited, sensitivity to criticism or social scrutiny may be passed on from one generation to the next. It's possible that the child of one or two shy parents may inherit genetic code that amplifies shyness into social anxiety disorder.

Through his research at Harvard University, Jerome Kagan, Ph.D., found evidence of this genetic predisposition. He studied children from infancy through early adolescence. He found 10-15% of children to be irritable infants who become shy, fearful and behaviorally inhibited as toddlers, and then remain cautious, quiet and introverted in their early grade school years. In adolescence, they had a much higher than expected rate of social anxiety disorder.

Kagan also found a physiological accompaniment of anxious temperament in these children: a high resting heart rate. Their resting heart rates rose even higher in the presence of mild stresses. Additionally, when exposed to new situations, these children exhibited substantial behavioral restraint — becoming quiet, avoiding interaction and even retreating from the scene. Parents of these children have increased rates of social anxiety disorder and other anxiety disorders.

Development

Social anxiety emerges at different developmental stages. Babies develop a fear of strangers at seven months, not before. Separation anxiety is quite clear in some children—perhaps more obvious in three-year-olds we take to daycare than in five-year-olds going off to kindergarten. Being alone is difficult for children ages six to eight, but actually becomes desirable as they approach puberty and adolescence. Solitude becomes more important as anxiety about physical appearance and performance in school increases. We also know that traumatic or stressful life events occurring at an early developmental stage may increase the risk of social anxiety disorder.

Chemical Imbalances

Individuals with social anxiety disorder (and other emotional disorders) probably have abnormalities in the functioning of some parts of their anxiety response system. Most often, the symptoms of long-term social anxiety disorder can be attributed to an improper chemical balance in the brain. There are several key neurotransmitters, namely Serotonin, Norepinephrine and Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which are produced in the brain and directly affect the way we feel about a given thought or situation.

Scientists believe that at least four brain areas are critical to our anxiety-response system:

• brain stem (cardiovascular and respiratory functions)
• limbic system (mood and anxiety)
• prefrontal cortex (appraisals of risk and danger)
• motor cortex (control of muscles)

These structures are richly supplied with these three important neurotransmitters: norepinephrine (NE), found in neurons arising primarily from a part of the brain stem called the locus ceruleus; serotonin (5-HT), found in neurons beginning in the raphe nuclei of the midbrain; and gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA), found in neurons that are widespread throughout the brain.

In terms of emotive response, this neurochemical process is vital to sustaining a sense of emotional well-being. Examples of brain regulation include control of thinking, control of physiologic functions, and control of behaviors. For example, thoughts can range from safe to dangerous, serious to humorous, etc. Physiologic functions, such as regulation of blood flow, the nervous system and the muscular system, fluctuate from resting states to initial arousal, then to marked arousal/anxiety and finally to extreme anxiety or panic. Behaviors from deep sleep to moderate activity to extremes of fighting, fleeing or freezing are all played out endlessly in each of us.

Many factors can contribute to a chemical imbalance, but treatment is essential in order to experience complete relief from those symptoms.