Some ＂social fear＂ may really be a disease.

　 　　　◎ Intern reporter Zhou Sitong

　　A few days ago, Vestazine Company of the United States published in the official website that the drug PH94B developed by the company for "social phobia" reached the standard in the third phase of clinical trials. The researchers of the company said that they had tailored the treatment plan for some patients based on PH94B, and observed the overall reduction and improvement of patients’ social anxiety symptoms. The release of this news has aroused widespread concern of "social terrorists" everywhere.

　　At present, "social fear" has become a popular word. Many young people label themselves as "social phobia" to express their discomfort in social situations. So, is "social fear" really a disease? Do you need medication? With these questions, the reporter of Science and Technology Daily interviewed relevant experts.

　　Some pathological "social phobia" is also influenced by genetic factors.

　　"Many times, what people call ‘ Social fear ’ It is not necessarily a real disease, but more of a psychological state. " Meng Fanqiang, deputy chief physician of Beijing Anding Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University, said that, for example, it is common to feel nervous in certain scenes, and it is not a pathological "social phobia". The dividing line between "normal" and "disease" lies in the severity of symptoms and the influence of symptoms on life, work and study.

　　When a person’s social anxiety symptoms make it impossible for him to carry out social activities normally, such as avoiding social places a lot, making him nervous at the thought of social scenes, and even fearing to meet others, etc., and similar symptoms last for more than 6 months, there may be pathological "social phobia".

　　Social phobia in medical sense, also known as social anxiety disorder, is a mental disease. Its main feature is persistent fear of social situations or behaviors that may induce social interaction. Once faced with this situation, patients will have anxious physiological reactions. Although many patients are aware of this situation, because this physiological reaction is not controlled by patients, many patients will still try their best to avoid relevant social occasions, and some patients will even completely isolate themselves from society.

　　Meng Fanqiang introduced that there are generally two causes of social anxiety disorder: the first is biological genetic factors, and more than 30% of patients with social anxiety disorder are affected by genetic factors; The second is the social and psychological factors, such as the bad growth environment in adolescence and repeated failures in social situations, which will distort people’s cognition of social behavior and thus produce persistent negative thinking.

　　There are these reference standards for judging social anxiety disorder.

　　Although the word "social phobia" has been widely known, in real life, people often can’t accurately judge their social psychological status, and often overestimate or underestimate their mental health. So, as an ordinary person, how can we judge whether we have social anxiety disorder?

　　To solve this problem, lei fu, a national second-level psychological counselor and expert in mental health service for Qingdao Federation of Trade Unions, gave three criteria: whether the mood is too tense, whether there is abnormal behavior and whether there is obvious social function damage. Patients with social anxiety disorder are afraid of socializing for a long time, lasting for more than half a year; In the social environment, it is easy to be overly anxious and worried, and there will be symptoms such as trembling, stuttering, sweating, frequent urination and diarrhea; Try to avoid most social occasions, which obviously affects normal life and leads to the inability to complete study or work tasks. When these three kinds of obvious symptoms appear, it means that people may suffer from social anxiety disorder and need the help of professional doctors.

　　"Because patients with social anxiety disorder lack normal interpersonal communication and the social network is weak, it is very difficult to fight the disease on their own. Therefore, after a preliminary assessment of their own state, patients need to go to the psychiatric department to ask a doctor for diagnosis. After the diagnosis of the disease, targeted treatment will be launched. " Lei fu said.

　　Meng Fanqiang introduced that when the patient’s condition is serious, medication will be used clinically. Under the guidance of professional doctors, patients with severe social anxiety disorder can choose to take some anti-anxiety drugs. For patients with more serious symptoms and often in a state of anxiety, some anti-anxiety drugs that can be taken continuously will be used clinically. For patients with mild symptoms, you can take some short-acting drugs half an hour or an hour before starting social behavior to relieve anxiety.

　　Rely on psychotherapy to get rid of social fear

　　Although drug therapy can produce results quickly and obviously, it can not be ignored that improper use of drugs may produce side effects or dependence, which will cause further damage to patients. Therefore, for most patients with social anxiety disorder, besides drug therapy, psychological therapy is more considered in clinic.

　　Lei fu told reporters that there are many psychotherapy methods for patients with social anxiety disorder, such as meditation and desensitization training, and the most mainstream method is cognitive behavioral therapy. Lei fu said that the biggest feature of patients with social anxiety disorder is excessive and unreasonable fear of social situations. Therefore, the focus of treatment is to eliminate this excessive and unreasonable fear.

　　"For example, because a patient made a mistake in a social situation, he felt in trouble and thought that others would definitely have a negative evaluation of himself. Then in psychological intervention, we let him look for a ‘ Exception ’ For example, has he ever heard or seen someone else have a similar situation, but this person did not get a serious negative evaluation in the end. " Lei fu said that in general, patients will find that this situation is common in daily life. Under this guidance, patients will know that there are exceptions to everything, and their own unreasonable cognition will be gradually deconstructed. Once this cognition is deconstructed, the degree of catastrophic feeling produced by patients will be reduced.

　　Zheng Shiyan, the former consultant of the Psychological Counseling Center of East China Normal University and the consultant of Hefei Shanyuan Psychological Counseling Center, said: "For social anxiety disorder, we naturally have to pay attention to it. But how to face and solve this problem still lies in the cognition of the parties and society about this psychological state. " He said that there are many factors that may lead to social anxiety disorder in today’s society, such as not being fully loved and not being fully accepted in childhood, which will make people feel that they are flawed and unworthy of being loved, and thus fear being criticized and denied. Therefore, in addition to turning to professionals, what patients with social anxiety disorder need to do is to take courage and be brave.

　　interlinkage

　　Online social interaction can’t replace real social interaction.

　　Nowadays, more and more young people prefer to socialize online through online social media or online communities, and even many offline "social fear" young people have become very active online, with obvious contrast. So, can cyberspace really make people get rid of "social fear"?

　　In this regard, Professor Yuan Hongmei, director of the Mental Health Education Research Center of the Student Affairs Department of Central South University of Forestry and Technology, once pointed out that online socialization is an extension and supplement of real socialization and cannot completely replace real socialization. Deliberately avoiding real social interaction is not conducive to physical and mental health.

　　If you want to overcome "social fear", you should also communicate and interact with others in reality. People who are "socially fearful" can invite more friends to go to the movies, take part in outings, or just get together with others to chat, try to enjoy real life and feel the pleasure brought by real social interaction. Giving yourself positive psychological hints and bravely taking the first step are the key to getting rid of "social fear".