Social phobia traceable to childhood: Scholar

Social phobia traceable to childhood: Scholar

JAKARTA (JP): Do you get cold feet speaking in public? Do you
always fear going into restaurants, or feel uncomfortable writing
in front of other people?

Then you are one of many people in Indonesia who suffer from
what a top psychiatrist describes as "social phobia", a common
but not widely recognized problem in this country.

Social phobias, Professor Ernaldi Bahar explains, usually
start to develop in most people after they turn 20. In some
people, however, they could set in before the age of 10.

"If we trace back, we find that social phobias are mostly
developed during childhood," Ernaldi, head of psychiatry at the
School of Medicine at Sriwijaya University, Palembang, said at a
symposium on stress and depression yesterday.

More specifically, he blames the early years at home for
people's inability to perform certain tasks in public.

"Educating children at home is very important for their mental
development. It could determine whether they will develop social
phobia or not later in life," he said.

Social phobias exist in other societies but are even more
common in cultures like Indonesia, where children are raised to
regard malu, or a feeling of shame, as a social value and moral
code.

"Malu is developed in a person from childhood. It extends from
the genitals to the body and later to social behavior or
situations in which the person is seen, exposed or subject to
public scrutiny," he said.

When they grow up, they become inhibited, restrained, self-
censored and full of doubts.

The feeling and attitude of shyness will be more intense
whenever a person becomes aware that she or he is inferior
physically, socially, educationally, intellectually or
economically, he said.

Such people become afraid of using public telephones,
receiving visitors, eating at restaurants and meeting people of
authority, Ernaldi said. Some are also afraid of being introduced
to other people, teased or even being watched, he added.

Common somatic symptoms of social phobia include palpitations,
trembling, sweating, tense muscles, a feeling of choking, sinking
feeling in the stomach, dry throat, difficulty in breathing,
passing out, hot or cold feelings, and pressure in the head or
headache, he said.

Ernaldi said social phobia is not widely recognized in
Indonesia but that the problem is widespread.

Most people with social phobia are too shy to admit it, come
forward and discuss it with their doctors or psychiatrists. They
simply dismiss the symptoms as inappropriate for medical
attention, he said.

But with people experiencing greater demand now to be seen or
perform in public, social phobia will only become a more
pronounced problem in the future, he said.

The good news is that the phobias are not incurable.

"People can get rid of their social phobias through training,
including performing or speaking in public," Ernaldi said.

"And they should allow themselves to be evaluated or judged by
other people.

"But, if the disorder becomes serious, they should consult a
doctor or psychiatrist," he added.

Ernaldi was one of the speakers at the stress and depression
symposium attended by neurologists, psychiatrists,
pharmacologists and practicing physicians.

The event was part of the ongoing Associated Meeting to the
20th Collegium of Internasionale Neuro Psychofarmacologicum,
which is a prelude to the organization's congress to be held in
Melbourne from June 23 to June 28. (31)