2005. 9. 16. Fri / 'Social phobia'99송현근

[현중]

99송현근<Social phobia>
식품생명공학 99 송현근

<Introduction>
  Good evening, everyone. I didn't get the day I wanted to give a speech. When I told Do-Hyung my speech date a month ago, I didn't know that after tomorrow there are 3 holidays in a row. Anyway, today I'm going to make a speech about social phobia.
  These days, many young people are more used to sending text messages with cell phones than making a phone call directly. Also, they are reluctant to phone somebody in case they get a wrong or weird phone number. Do you have these experiences? So do I. I was wondering if these kinds of things were related to the social phobia. And I chose this topic to look back on myself because I found that I used to loose self-confidence sometimes.
  After you listen to my speech, if you feel that you have had a similar case like this, make an effort to overcome that. Now, let me get to the point.

< Main subject>
In fact, what I said before are not exact examples of social phobia.
1. Firstly, I'll explain the meaning of social phobia.
Social phobia is also called 대인공포증. When people have a chance to face people and make a presentation, they feel anxious about their behavior. So, they become red in the face, breathe much more than before with rapid heartbeat and perspire profusely. In addition, some people will have trouble keeping their voice and may get abdominal pains. The reason is that they are conscious how other people think of them. If these are repeated, they may avoid those kinds of situations.

2. There are 2 major reasons.
One is a biological reason, the other is environmental.
① In case of the biological reason, there are three factors, biochemical unbalance, genetic propensity, and inherent sensibility.
①-1. David Sheeham, the specialist in social phobia, insisted that there are substances which transmit nervousness in the nervous system. He said dopamine is one of those substances which has a transmission function. But, this is not a perfect theory until now.
①-2. The second is a genetic propensity.
In this case, parents or relatives have a genetically similar propensity. Those parents overprotect their children and if one identical twin has a social phobia, the other also has high possibilities to have that.
①-3. Ohman, a professor who studied this, says that not only human beings but also wildlife are ready to react to something dangerous automatically. Therefore, it is difficult to control that reaction spontaneously.

② In case of the environmental reason, There are various reason.
When people were humiliated in front of many people in their childhood, it can occur to them later. Or if they were educated at home not to damage other people and to be perfect, they could have this illness.

3. In other words, social phobia is divided into three elements.
  The first thing is physical symptoms. When people detect anxiety about something, their body will be physically changed. For example, high heartbeat, increase of breath, muscle tension, and so on.
  And then, we begin to think about it. What is our circumstance which faces us. We eval‎uate our behavior and anticipate that it will be repeated.
  Finally, we express our feelings. Sometimes, we are on pins and needles.

4. How to cure?
There are two major methods.
Firstly, recognition-behavior therapy in specialized institutes.
Secondly, medication in hospitals.
I won't deal with these because it is a professional field.

< Conclusion>
  As I said before, we sometimes loose our self-confidence. Therefore, I want to conclude that if we have difficulty coping with some problems, we must have self-confidence. It's useless to have a sense of inferiority. Whatever we do, we need much more passion. To be highly self-confident, we need three attitudes.
  First of all, we have to acknowledge who and what we are and accept it. Especially, we have to make an effort to supplement our shortcomings. In addition, we must think of ourselves as precious beings.
  To achieve all of these, we have to do our best from the bottom of our heart, even though it'll take a long time.

Corrected by William Halpin