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)