An anxiety disorder involving intense fear of social situations, leading to avoidance of such?

• A. Social anxiety disorder
• B. Specific phobia
• C. Generalized anxiety disorder
• D. Panic disorder

Answer: (A)

Social anxiety disorder involves an intense fear of social or performance situations where one expects scrutiny or judgment, leading to avoidance or distress that impairs functioning. The fear is typically out of proportion to the actual threat and lasts across many social settings, such as speaking in public, meeting new people, or eating in front of others. This pattern explains why someone would avoid social interactions and experience significant impairment in work, school, or relationships. The other disorders have different primary focuses: a specific phobia is a fear of a single object or situation (not all social settings), generalized anxiety disorder is excessive worry across many domains rather than specifically about social interactions, and panic disorder centers on recurrent panic attacks and fear of having more attacks, not the avoidance of social situations per se.