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The word anxiety was derived from the Latin word “angere” meaning to choke or strangle.  The word panic is derived from the Greek god Pan who, according to legend, could inspire overwhelming and irrational fear, especially when disturbed from his sleep.  Anxiety is defined as a fear of future events. Fear is a reaction to current events.  These feelings may cause physical symptoms such as fast heart rate and shakiness.  Those are certainly things I am familiar with from my own personal experiences, even now.  

There are a number of anxiety disorders: generalized anxiety disorder, specific phobia, social anxiety disorder, separation anxiety, agoraphobia, panic disorder and selective mutism.  The disorder differs by what results in the symptoms.  People can often have more than one anxiety disorder.  

•The concept of social fear dates back as early as 400 B.C. During this time, Hippocrates described the overly shy person as someone who "loves darkness as life" and "thinks every man observes him."  In the early part of the 20th century, psychiatrists used terms such as social phobia and social neurosis to refer to extremely shy patients.  

•1950s: South African psychiatrist Joseph Wolpe paved the way for later advances in behavioral therapy for phobias through his work developing systematic desensitization techniques.

•1960s: British psychiatrist Isaac Marks proposed that social phobias be considered a distinct category separate from other simple phobias. 

•1967: Barbra Streisand forgot the lyrics to a song while singing in Central Park, which she attributed to anxiety that she later received treatment for.

•1968: In the second edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-II), published by the American Psychiatric Association, social fears were described as a specific phobia of social situations or an excessive fear of being observed or scrutinized by others. At this point in history, the definition of social phobia was very narrow.

•1980: In the third edition of the DSM (DSM-III), social phobia was included as an official psychiatric diagnosis. In this edition, social phobia was described as a fear of performance situations and did not include fears of less formal situations such as casual conversations. People with such broad fears were more likely to be diagnosed with avoidant personality disorder (which could not be diagnosed at the same time as social phobia).

•1985: Psychiatrist Michael Liebowitz and clinical psychologist Richard Heimberg initiated a call to action for research on social phobia. Up to this point, research on the disorder had been lacking, leading some to refer to it as the "neglected anxiety disorder."

•1987: A revision to the DSM-III lead to changes in some of the diagnostic criteria. A diagnosis now required that the symptoms cause "interference or marked distress" rather than simply "significant distress." It was also now possible to diagnose social phobia and avoidant personality disorder in the same patient. Finally, the term "generalized social phobia," referring to a more severe and pervasive form of the disorder, was introduced.

•1990s: Donny Osmond suffered with severe stage fright while performing in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

•1994: The DSM-IV was published and the term social anxiety disorder (SAD) replaced social phobia. This new term was used to refer to how broad and generalized fears are in the disorder. In this new edition, the disorder was defined as a "marked and persistent fear of one or more social or performance situations in which the person is exposed to unfamiliar people or possible scrutiny by others." The diagnostic criteria were only slightly modified from the DSM-III-R.

The New Millenium

•2006: Baseball player Zack Greinke is diagnosed with social anxiety disorder.

•2007: About.com (now Verywell.com) began its first pages about social anxiety disorder. This library of resources has grown to hundreds or articles on the topic and a corresponding Facebook page (About Social Anxiety Disorder) was started 

•to provide a place for people with SAD to gather.

•2012: Susan Cain published the tangentially related book "Quiet," which promoted the positive aspects of introverts. This cause some confusion, and possibly added to the perception of social anxiety disorder not being a "real disorder."

•2013: The DSM-V was published, with little change to the diagnosis of social anxiety disorder other than wording of the time frame for diagnosis.

Understanding the evolution of social anxiety diagnosis is helpful in learning more about your symptoms and how they’ll be treated.