Anxiety Disorders

This entry describes the problem of anxiety and how it is associated with interpersonal and health communication, as well as relationship problems. Anxiety disorders have at their core a fear and feelings of imminent threat. Social anxiety, which is the fear of scrutiny by other people and concern over leaving an undesired impression on them, has the strongest association with interpersonal communication. Social anxiety is more common in women than men and usually starts to appear during childhood or early adolescence. The self-presentational model of social anxiety is presented, followed by a number of problems that compromise the social interactions of people with social anxiety. These include social skills deficits, negatively biased social perception, and negative self-evaluations. For a substantial number of people, the experience of social anxiety has its roots in childhood interactions in the family of origin.