Many individuals who suffer from social phobia are labeled as shy rather than having a disorder. This is mainly due to the fact that many people do not know or understand what social phobia is. For those people it's something you can "get over" or "get over" but it's not that simple. There is much more to social phobia than most people think and for the individual suffering from social phobia it can be a very harmful disorder. What is social phobia? Social phobia is "a disorder characterized by an excessive fear of being exposed to the control of others". other people which leads to avoidance of social situations in which the person is called to act” (Carlson, 2009, p. 587). In simpler terms, social phobia is the avoidance or fear of situations in which the person might humiliate or embarrass themselves in front of others and appear incompetent or foolish. If the situation cannot be avoided, the person becomes extremely anxious and the anxiety symptoms impair the person's normal functioning. For someone to be diagnosed with social phobia, they must meet the DSM-IV-TR criteria. According to the DSM-IV-TR there are many different characteristics of social phobia. They are (1) “marked and persistent fear of one or more social performance situations in which the person is exposed to unfamiliar people or to possible scrutiny by others, with fear of being embarrassed or humiliated,” (2) “ exposure to the feared social situation almost invariably causes anxiety, sometimes like a panic attack,” (3) “recognition that the fear is excessive or unreasonable,” (4) “the feared social or performance situation is avoided or is endured with intense anxiety or distress,” and (5) “avoidance, anxiety, anticipation, or di...... middle of paper ...... c.org/docview/847536944 Weeks, J.W., Lee, C. Y., Reilly, A. R., Howell, A. N., France, C., Kowalsky, J. M., & Bush, A. (2012). "The sound of fear": evaluation of vocal fundamental frequency as a physiological indicator of social anxiety disorder. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 26(8), 811-822. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.pitt.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S088761851200093XWood, S. E., Wood, E. G., & Boyd, D. (2010). The world of psychology (7th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson.Xu, Y., Schneier, F., Jeimberg, R.G., Princisvalle, K., Liebowitz, M.R., Wang, S., & Blanco, C. (2012). Gender differences in social anxiety disorder: Results from the National Epidemiologic Sample on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 26(1), 12-19. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.pitt.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S0887618511001411